I am the Otter
by isansa
Summary: They had been married. He had run. She arrived in the soaked land. He came back. Post-Eclipse, this is the story of Jacob Black. Jacob/OC
1. Preface

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Jake or his friends, nor the Cullens. Dakota and her family are mine though.  
_Note: I have two soundtracks posted on for this particular story.  
Search for **I am the Otter** at Imeem. com_

* * *

Three months had passed; three excrusiating months.  
A lone creature made his way back along an unknown path through the dense northwestern forest of Washington; the mud and rain staining his fur and paws. The creature had run fast and hard away from civilization, wanting no one to come for him, but now they would.

They could hear him.

But the did not come.

The creature trudged through the heavy foliage, wind, and rain, soon coming upon a lighted community. His eyes were dark and out of focus, his large body swaying with every step. He had not intended on coming back, not here. As he passed the little houses spread out in a circle around the land he could hear the families inside, a few whispering: "_Call Billy_" or "_It's Jake._"

He did not stop for anyone that called his name from the dry porches of their homes. He could not. The creature's ears were alert, his mind whirring with thought, but he was not going to stop for anyone.

He would not take pity.

He would not take lectures.

He was here to see his father. To make it known that he had never meant to harm him in anyway.

But he had to go. It was the only way.

The creature finally stopped in the middle of the village and raised his head to the house squating in front of him. It had been his home for his whole life. The rusting gutters, the leaning porch, the chipped steps and the rigged ramp for his father; as much as he disliked, this was home, and it was comforting.

Jacob Black glanced up at the falling sky, the fresh drops rolling down his dirty muzzle and soaking his thick fur to the bone. He blinked to clear his large brown eyes and faced the house again.

He was ready.

The neighbors had gathered on their porches, at their doors, and at their windows. They were all watching the large rusty wolf with dull eyes cross the muddy front lawns to the small tin garage behind the house of Billy Black: the man who's wife had died many years earlier, who's daughters were now married, who's underage son had left without warning; the man with no physical ability to stand on his own, but who had a heart as fierce as the sun.


	2. Chapter One: Jacob Black

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Jake or his friends, nor the Cullens. Dakota and her family are mine though.  
_Note: I have two soundtracks posted on for this particular story.  
Search for **I am the Otter** at Imeem. com_

* * *

It rained for four days straight after Jacob Black returned to the La Push reservation. The boy had been found the next rainy morning after his return curled up in a plastic lawn chair under the cover of the tin garage. His good friends Quill and Embry coaxed him inside of his father's house and to his bedroom to sleep off the fog in his mind. He slept for five hours more.

Billy Black made a quick call to his old pal Chief Swan of the Forks Police Department several minutes away, telling him that Jacob had come home and to tell Bella she didn't have to worry, if it wasn't too much trouble.

Billy hung up the phone and looked around his little house. The dark paneling on the walls, the matching cabinets of the connected kitchen with its dingy linoleum floor, the shock of thinning green shag that covered the small living room area and down the hall, even the ceramic paint projects from his children's childhood had become darker and a little menacing. He sighed and rolled himself to the edge of the carpet where he grabbed the remote from the endtable and switched on the old t.v., careful not to wake his son in the other room.

* * *

"Baby, you've got to get up, you'll be late for work."

A lump in the blankets turned to face the older woman poking her head into the room from the hallway. The lump groaned and swung a pair of feet to the floor before peeling the blankets from a pair of slender arms and a proportioned body.

"I hate Wednesdays." The girl ruffled her short black hair before yawning big and stretching her legs and arms out.

"I know, sweetie, get ready." The older woman closed the bedroom door leaving the thin girl sitting in the gray room alone. The girl stood up and leaned back across her bed to pull the blinds up and let in the little sunshine.

"Nice day for bike riding."

--

"Baby, you riding your bike or do you want a ride?" The older woman called to the girl, who had dressed in a pair of long overalls and a white tanktop, now rushing through the small house looking for her work boots.

"Naw, that's okay, Clara. It's a nice day to ride my bike." The girl sat down at the square kitchen table and tied her boots up.

"Alright, but take a jacket, we can't afford for you to get sick." Clara dumped chopped vegetables into a plastic baggy and zipped it up. The girl finished tying her boots before standing up and grabbing her black hooded jacket from a hook around the corner of the kitchen doorway.

"I'll see you for lunch?" Clara asked pushing a lock of her lightbrown hair behind an ear.

"Yeah, thanks for the snacks, Clara. Love ya." The girl kissed Clara on the cheek and grabbed a set of keys and the snacks and heading out into the drizzle of the day.

--

"Hey, Coates, got a call for you!"

"Okay, gimme a minute!" Dakota Coates slid out from under an old beat up Chevy pickup and wiped her hands on her greasy overalls. She walked slowly to the shop's office to pick up the phone on the wall.

"Hello?...Oh, hey Billy!...hm, it's eleven right now, I can be there in ten minutes give or take the rain patterns...Okay, yeah. He's got tools? Okay, as long as the basics are there I'm fine...Okay, bye Billy."

"That Billy?"

Dakota turned and hung the phone up before answering the dark haired man at the desk, "Yeah, says he's got a car and some bikes he wants looked at."

"Didn't you hear? His son, Jacob, came back a couple days ago." The man rubbed his chin in thought.

"What, he runaway or somethin'?" Dakota asked leaning on the desk now.

"I don't know, something like that. I guess he's not in school, my brother and him are in the same grade. Brady says he hasn't seen Jacob Black in school yet."

"Eh, I gotta go. Told Billy I'd be there soon." Dakota waved to her boss before grabbing her black backpack and bike from the behind a yellow post out in the garage.

"Hey, don't skip out!" Her boss called after her.

* * *

A quiet laughing could be heard through the thin walls in the Black house. Though, it wasn't these muffled voices and quiet laughs that woke Jacob Black; he had let his mind wander too far since that morning and had not been able to sleep.

The lean teenager sat up in his somewhat-too-small bed and scratched at his short black hair. He had cut it himself and it hadn't turned out horrible, just long enough to be comfortable. To his amazement the air around him felt cold, he, for once in the last year and a half had goosebumps forming on his skin.

That was strange.

Jacob crawled out of bed and hunched over in a slight pain, his muscles were sore and stiff from the rain, walking, and sleeping. He changed from the dirty and torn sweatpants he was wearing into a pair of clean jeans and a black t-shirt that had been placed on the floor near the door.

Jacob ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily, "Better get this over with."

The boy opened his door, careful not to jiggle the knob, and started down the hallway toward the voices in the kitchen. He thought it might have been his dad watching t.v., but it certainly wasn't the t.v. because the screen was blank and the remote was on the endtable. It was as he came around the corner to the kitchen that he noticed his father and a person he didn't recognize were sitting at the table. The girl sitting at the table sat with her back to him wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Oh, Jake, you're awake. Sit." Billy greeted his son with a smile and pulled at the chair to his left.

The girl and Billy had mugs of herbal tea, Jacob noticed as he went around the table and sat across the table from the new girl as his father introduced the two, "This is Dakota Coates, she's Clara's niece."

Jacob watched the girl as he sat down. Her black hair just grazed the edge of her chin and her smile was wide but not too wide for her face, "It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about."

Jacob nodded, "Yeah, nice to meet you too."

"I called Dakota here to come take a look at your car and bikes, just to make sure they weren't too neglected before you rode off." Billy mumbled the last bit.

Jacob glanced at his father, "You didn't have to, I could do that myself."

"I thought you'd be sleeping, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Jake." Billy's voice had an edge to it.

"Should I leave, if Jacob wants to do the work he can--" Dakota sat on the edge of her chair, ready to leave.

Jacob waved his hand for her to wait, "No, no. I'll show you where everything is."

Jacob stood and scooted between the fridge and his father's wheelchair before waving for Dakota to follow him. He opened the front door and left the wooden door open while the screen door wacked shut behind him.

"Thanks for the tea, Billy." Dakota thanked Billy Black for his hospitality and followed after Jacob, pulling the wooden door to so the cold and rain wouldn't bother Billy. She hopped down the steps and went around to the side of the house where Jacob had gone and where sounds of metal could be heard clanging together.

"You ever work on bikes before?" Jacob asked as Dakota rounded the corner.

She stopped in the open side of the garage just under the tin ledge, "Uh, yeah. My dad had three of them...You do know you're not wearin' shoes, right?"

"Hm," Jacob glanced at his bare feet that now had blades of wet grass and leaves stuck to them, "Yeah, guess, I forgot them."

"So," Dakota shuffled her feet in the damp dirt and nodded her head to the vehicles, "Which do you use more?"

"The big bike, but probably won't be using it much anymore. So the Rabbit is top on the list."

Dakota stepped carefully around the covered bikes to the Volkswagen Rabbit who's tarp flapped in a little draft of wind. She pulled the corner of the tarp back, "Man, I haven't seen one of these in years."

"Heh, yeah. Built it myself." Jacob said smugly as he rummaged through the top drawer of a short toolbox.

"Really?" Dakota raised her eyebrows in doubt and glanced at Jacob.

"Well, I got the parts anyway." He stood up straight and walked over to Dakota and helped her pull the tarp off of the Rabbit, then folded it up and put it on the work bench next to the toolbox.

"Okay, got a flashlight?" The black haired girl popped open the hood and put in arm in place to hold it up.

Jacob pulled a small yellow flashlight out of his pocket and clicked it on. Dakota smiled and pulled a hairband that had been around her neck up onto her head to keep her hair back, "Alright, let's do this."

Dakota and Jacob stood hunched over the engine for forty-five minutes checking the car's insides. Dakota had been thinking hard about her work and hadn't noticed the wind and rain had picked up, until a loud crash of thunder rang through the air causing Dakota to jump and bash the back of her head into the underside of the hood.

"Ow, Ahh, man!" She leaned forward on one hand while the other rubbed the knot forming on her head.

Jacob just laughed, "Y-you okay?"

Dakota rolled her eyes at the boy and removed her hand from her head, checking for blood, "I guess so."

Another wave of thunder rolled through the clouds as the two took a break and sat down two of the three plastic chairs in the garage, "Man, I've never seen so much rain in one place."

Jacob looked over at the girl beside him,"You're not from around here? You sure could pass for it."

"Naw, I'm from Oklahoma. Part Lakota part Quileute."

"How'd one of us end up down there?" Jacob asked jokingly.

"It's magic, man." Dakota sniffed at the cold and pulled her black sleeves over her balled fists.

"Did you move up here with your family?" Jacob asked. There was a moment of silence.

"Kind of. I moved up with my baby sister and my little brother, living with my Aunt Clara, now."

The wind picked up and blew the rain into the garage seeming to wake up the pair. Dakota glanced her bulky watch and asked in a steady voice if she could use the phone. Jacob nodded and told her to go on inside and he'd check the bikes himself later. As Dakota made her phone call Jacob closed the Rabbit's hood and pulled the tarp over the car before ducking through the rain and into the house where Dakota took a minute to end her conversation with the person on the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry, Clara, I had a house call. I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll cook...I do not. I'll see you later, okay? Love you." She hung up the phone and turned to Jacob, he noticed that his father had inconspicuously disappeared into a backroom like always.

"Hey, Jacob, I've got to head back to the shop, so if you want I can come back tomorrow and look at the bikes?" She pulled her headband off and twisted it back around her neck.

"Uh, sure. How'd you get here anyway?" Jacob asked, he hadn't seen tire tracks in the driveway or out front.

"I rode my bike. It was nice earlier."

Jacob gave Dakota a blank look, "You're not gonna want to ride a bike in this."

"Why not?"

"Well, about a mile down the road is a flood area, so no bike can get through there without being washed away."

"Oh, crap. Why did Robbie not tell me? I swear the guy hates me." Dakota rubbed her forehead with her wrist.

"Um, I can give you a ride if you want. The Rabbit isn't Noah's Ark or anything, but it can get through the water." Jacob offered, his thumbs through his beltloops.

"That would be great, but I don't think my bike is gonna fit in the trunk."

"Hey, I can bring it over when the small pond dries up. If that's okay with you."

"That's fine. Just as long as I can get a ride back to the shop."

"Let's go, then." Jacob left a note for Billy on the counter telling him he would be back soon and led Dakota out to the Rabbit.


	3. Chapter Two: Marriage

The patter of rain hit the house with full force, momentarily dropping on the plush carpet as the front door opened and closed quickly. Clara Coates sat at the kitchen table watching the red Rabbit veer away from the house with a mug of hot tea between her palms, listening to the conversation echoing through the house.

"Clara?! Aunt Clara, you here?!" Dakota pulled her boots off at the door, tipping over and hitting the wall twice.

"Kota!" A young boy called from the separated living room.

"Hey, Logan, what're you doing home so early? Don't you have practice?"

"Yeah, but I got sick at school, Kayla did too." The boy sniffed loudly.

"Well, in that case, get away from me." Dakota pushed against her little brother's head in a playful manner, pretending he was contagious.

"Aw, come on Kota, I'm not contagious!" The two began to play fight down the hallway, stopping with one another in a head lock in front of the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah, sure you aren't--huh, Clara, hi." Dakota pushed at Logan to let her go.

"She seemed really mad at you when she picked us up." Logan whispered and backed up the hallway and into the living room. Dakota pushed her hair out of her face and stepped into the lighted kitchen where her aunt was waiting.

"So, what happened with lunch?" Clara sipped her tea.

"I got hung up with a house call, and the streets were flooded so I couldn't get back on my bike. Robbie is jealous of my talent, so I can see why he didn't tell me about that. After I got back to the shop I had to finish up there." She sat down across the table from her aunt.

"How'd you get a ride from the shop then?" Clara raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Jacob Black gave me a ride."

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah. Billy called to have me come out and check out Jacob's car and bikes. It started raining and Robbie didn't tell me about the flood area, so Jacob offered to give me a ride back to the shop."

"What, did he hang around until your shift ended or something?"

"Actually, yeah. My bike wouldn't fit in the Rabbit's trunk, so he said he'd wait and give me a ride home if I needed it." Dakota scooted her chair back and went back to the front door while Clara stood to rinse out her mug, "Why, is that weird or something?"

"For you. I never thought you'd want to be around people you don't know."

Dakota came back to the kitchen with a brown paperbag in hand, "Well, you always say that I should get to know more people, and Jacob was nice enough to offer a ride when I really needed one."

"Alright then, what's in the bag?" Clara leaned on the table.

"Food, I told you I was going to cook dinner."

Clara stared at her niece, "I thought you were joking."

* * *

"Jake, Sam came looking for you and Emily sent food with him." Billy Black smiled as his son came through the front door of their little home.

"Uh, cool. How long ago?" Jacob sighed and ruffled his short hair.

"An hour or two, are you going to eat?" Billy glanced at his son as he began to retrieve the left overs from the refrigerator.

"No...no, I should probably go see Sam. I'll eat when I get back, Dad." Jacob gave his father an apologetic look before turning around and leaving the house again.

As Jacob bounded down the steps of the house the rain began to let up, but he stopped shortly to leave his shoes on the edge of the porch, Dakota had insisted he wear them so he wouldn't get sick; he had just decided to humor her.

The porch light faded behind the young man as he kept walking across the muddied yard, the hem of his jeans soaking heavily in the puddles, he really didn't care. The rain finally let up and the clouds above left a gray circle around the hazy moon. Jacob trudged on through the trees, his long legs making up for the time he would have taken to walk at a completely normal pace. Within ten minutes he was approaching a small green house with an off-white porch light making a pool on the ground.

Jacob climbed the one step and knocked on the wooden door, waiting as he heard a chair scrape against the linoleum. The door opened with one jerk to reveal a tall, built man with short brown hair similar to Jacob's. The man hesitated before excusing himself from the room and stepping out into the night.

"Hey, Sam." Jacob said in a small voice.

Sam grunted and folded his arms as he leant against the door frame, "So, what brought you back?"

"Mm, guilty conscience, most likely." Jacob sat on the porch and let his legs hang over the edge, his feet barely grazing the ground, making him feel much smaller.

The night was quiet, only the soggy crickets could be heard.

"Everyone's been worried about you." said Sam.

"Yeah, I know." Jacob said wryly.

Another silence.

"She's happy you know. The day before, she came down to see you." Sam unfolded his arms and sighed, "Said she knew you probably didn't want to see her, but wanted to thank you...Told her that you'd gone into the city with Leah and Seth, she would've been too torn up if she'd known about you. Plus she wreaked of leech."

No more words were needed for Jacob to express what he was feeling. Sam knew.

Sam clamped a hand down on Jacob's shoulder, "There isn't anything else to worry about. They've all gone up north and those foreign vamps have gone back to wherever they came from. The land is ours."

Jacob sat in a daze as Sam said a few words and left him to his thoughts. Isabella Swan had come to see him the day before her wedding. He knew she still cared greatly about him, but it hadn't been enough for him, he wanted her complete love. And yet, at this news, he seemed to have no ill feelings towards the newly named Bella Cullen, or the rest of the Cullen clan.

Jacob glanced down at his arms and was taken aback: there were goosebumps rising all over. He had never felt this chilled before, well, not within the last year and a half. What was this?


	4. Chapter Three: Premonitions

The skies over Forks were just as gray and dismal as she remembered, just as the flora was lush green all around due to the rain. The ground's damp dust trampled by the cars and trucks, and a familiar pack of native shifters.

Miss Rosalie Hale turned her red convertible down a thin dirt road, going no faster than the average speed limit of a human: forty miles an hour. Rosalie pressed a black switch and rolled up the driver's side window as she pulled her car into a graveled driveway in front of a rather large white house.

"Are you sure about this? This iis/i where she'll be found?" The blonde beauty asked in a curious voice.

"Yes, I've been keeping tabs on Charlie for Bella's sake. It seems that this is where they found her, according to the report Charlie gave to the press." The dark haired pixie popped open the car's door and let her shoes sink a little into the mud. Rosalie followed suit careful to stay on the gravel.

Alice Cullen sprinted to the front porch of the house and stopped at the door, sniffing the air, "Someone has been here, but I can't tell who. The sent has faded."

Rosalie went up the steps in her sneakers and stood next to Alice, "Well, let's do this."

The two beauties stepped through the front door of the once exquisite home only to be paralyzed in the doorway by the ghastly smell of rotting blood. The sent was not human blood, animal blood had usually been overlooked by the family that had once lived there: life happens outside of the house in the great green forest.

The tall, golden haired young woman raised her sparkling eyes to the wall opposite Alice and herself; the wall was covered in smears of black blood, hand prints of the liquid. Rosalie stepped around Alice and closer to the wall, sniffing at the air--

"They came for us."

Rosalie turned to face her sister, "What do you mean?"

"They came for us, whoever is going to be found here got in the way. They're coming back tomorrow night." Alice said in a slight panicked voice, unusual for her.

"Who is they?" Rosalie knitted her brow.

Alice raised her honey gaze, "I don't know."

* * *

"Hey, sweetie, where're you going?"

"Thought I'd take a walk around town before I go back out to Billy's."

"Well, come eat first. You never eat breakfast."

"Sure, I'm in no hurry. I don't have actual work until Sunday."

Clara smiled at her niece and pulled a clean plate out of the cabinet then piled the breakfast of the day on to it, "Eat up."

Dakota picked up her fork and started to shovel in the eggs and bacon, all the while watching the mist slowly falling outside of the window. Summer was a lot drier than winter was in Washington, she had only come up for Christmas with her father's family.

"Is Kayla still having trouble?" she asked through a mouthful of eggs.

"No, she's feeling better; I think it's just a little bug. Logan's all ready to go back, but I'm keeping him home just to make sure." Clara leaned on the kitchen counter sipping her coffee.

Dakota chewed her breakfast slowly, "I should be here helping you. You already do so much, Clara."

"No, no. You didn't work so hard in school not to make a living. It isn't your fault, you are making your way to a living, you are doing what you need to. You already do enough for us just by pursuing your dream."

"Clara-"

"Not one more word. Now, go do what you need to. Don't worry about lunch, just call if you get caught up."

"Okay. I'll see you later, then." The short girl placed her dirty dishes in the sink and left the kitchen to say her good-byes to her brother and sister before grabbing her light black jacket and jogging out the front door.

* * *

The hollow sound of her boots clunking on the concrete sidewalk gave Dakota comfort as she went along down the street taking in her surroundings. The quaint shops and the small supermarket littered with tourists in their khakis and cut-offs, the town's natives running about, though the streets weren't very cluttered due to it being a school day. Dakota let the light mist settle and soak her hair as she pushed her fists into her jacket pockets to keep warm.

Dakota turned a corner only to catch herself on the concrete below her; she had run into someone, "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!"

"No, it's my fault, I'm just standing here like an idiot. Here." A large hand appeared in front of Dakota, she accepted and was easily pulled to her feet.

"Thanks. Uh, Sam Uley, right?" Dakota gave the man a quizzical look.

"Yeah, you're Dakota, Clara's niece. You were at the cookout?" Sam's voice was gruff for someone so young.

"Yeah. Uh, well, sorry about just now." Dakota rubbed her hands on her pants nervously.

"My fault. Like I said, I was just standing here. It was nice to meet you again."

"You too, I guess I'll run into some other time?" Dakota cracked a smile at her stupid joke.

Sam gave a brief grunt of a laugh, "Yeah, well, see you around."

Sam waved good-bye and left Dakota watching after him as he jogged across the street to a lone phone booth and proceeded to make a call. Dakota's gaze lingered for a moment more before she continued on her way to the small red house that held more secrets than she could ever believe.

* * *

"Are you sure, Sam?...It's that you just told me there was nothing to worry about...I understand, but I might be a little late, we're actually expecting company-- no, it was scheduled...new girl, Clara's niece-- yeah, her. Okay, she probably walked so if it starts raining I'm going to give her a ride, but I'll be there."

Jacob Black clicked the phone back onto its base and settled down onto the warn tan sofa to await the arrival of his guest. It only took five minutes from the end of the phone call to the triple knock on the door. Jacob stood and strode to the door, greeting Dakota and letting her in.

"It started to rain on my way over, so I'm trying not to get things wet." She said as she wiped her soles on the door mat and stepped into the house.

"It's okay, I've tracked in way worse," Jacob grinned and let it fall quickly, "I don't think we're going to be able to work on the bikes today. I just got a call and I need to be somewhere quick, but I'll give you a ride back to the shop."

"Actually, I'm off today, tomorrow and Saturday. So, you can just drop me off at the grocery store, and I'll have Clara come pick me up, I don't want to put you out." Dakota gave a sighed.

"Oh, okay. We'll just have to reschedule then." Jacob gave Dakota a wide grin and led her out to the Rabbit.

Jacob switched on the heater as soon as he had the car running, making sure Dakota would be dry at the end of the trip, even though he itched to be running in the cool rain, making a mess of his clean clothes.

The drive went slowly as the rain picked up and pelted the Rabbit's windshield faster than the wipers could clear the water from the glass. Jacob and Dakota sat opposite of each other in the silence, letting the music play through the static on the unknown radio station, just to pass the time.

Jacob glanced over at his passenger, "So, how're you liking rez?"

Dakota dropped her propped elbow from the edge of the window, "It's good, I like the hominess of it. Everyone knows each other, nothing like Tulsa. I guess it's fitting though, never thought I'd be here in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, genuinely curious.

"Long story short, tragedy struck back home and Clara got custody of me and the siblings instead of the state."

Jacob had immediately wished he hadn't asked, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know. Still hard, but you've got to move on."

Silence over took the vehicle again, the patter of the rain making itself known. Jacob had a clear shot from the stop sign he was rolling away from to the store and then on to Sam and Emily's, neither he nor Dakota noticed the dark mass migrating through the edge of the forest toward the road until it hit the Rabbit head on.

Jacob slammed on the breaks causing the deer to roll off the hood of the car, and the rain causing the car to fishtail out of control across the bare road. The mass of deer sprung across the road at lightening speed, leaving the Rabbit to spin and skid into a large tree on the opposite side of the road. A bone crunching crack had been heard through the noise.

"J-Jacob..." Dakota was leaning forward in her seat, her head between her knees.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked breathlessly.

"I don't know." Her voice was weak and cracking as she pulled her head up and her hand away from her right temple, blood covered her hand and ran down the right side of her round face. Jacob glanced up to the passenger window, she had hit her head hard enough to draw blood, that wasn't good. He tried to start up the car again, but it wasn't working. He had to get her help quick.

"Dakota, stay still, I'll be right back." Jacob pushed open his door and ran around the back of the car into the dense forest.

Dakota hadn't noticed where he had gone, but she knew the door was still open and the rain was coming into the car. She whimpered in pain, letting salty tears scrape at her eyes and slide down her cheeks and nose. She began to feel she was alone, she sat up slowly and looked out into the gray, rainy, skies. Her vision began to blur and darken.

"Jacob...Jacob, come on." She closed her eyes tight and waited to hear the return of her driver. She sat in the silence with her head down and feeling heavy as she began to sweat and her mouth became dry. The only thing that kept her awake for a moment longer was the startling howl that came from the forest right outside of the car.

She turned her head to see what was coming, but her sight failed her. Just before her lights went out, she caught a glimpse of a person running to the driver's door and calling her name, but she couldn't place the swirled face with the echoing voice.


	5. Chapter Four: Vampire Dreams

"Okay, I'll need you to follow the light."

Her brown eyes slowly followed the bright white light as it swivelled side to side. She had undergone an MIR, an x-ray of her knees and lower legs, and was now re-taking the vision test. The doctor seemed satisfied with her coordination and current vision, and clicked off the small penlight.

"Miss Coates, you have no signs of any grade of concussion, which is good. Your legs on the other hand, are a mystery considering your accident. You're sure they weren't causing any pain before the accident?"

"N-no. My shins hurt real bad on the way here, though. I don't...know if I hit them or what."

"Hm, well, in any case, the tissue is bruised, nothing is broken. So, just give them some rest. As for your head you'll be fine. Just go home, put some ice on it and get some sleep; and if you have any trouble you are encouraged to come back and have it checked out." The doctor smiled warmly and patted Dakota on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen."

The doctor smiled again and left the room, stopping for a short moment to speak with Jacob and Sam, who had been waiting all day. They had tried to convince Clara Coates that Dakota was fine and they would bring her home, and not to worry at all about it. They only succeeded when Dr. Cullen came to their rescue, charming Ms. Coates with his good looks and soothing voice.

Jacob swiped at his nose as he came into the room and closed the door behind him. He wrinkled his nose and sniffed loudly before looking at a tired Dakota sitting on the clean plastic seat.

"Are you okay?" Dakota raised her left eyebrow.

"Huh, uh, yeah, just allergies." Jacob sat on the rolling stool across from her and stared at the green and white tiles, "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Besides a headache and weak legs I'm okay." Dakota smiled weakly and pulled her hair back behind her ear, revealing the short row of stitches above her eyebrow. He noticed.

"I'm really sorry."

"No, no! It isn't your fault, Jacob. Deer are unpredictable, it's not your fault."

"But it was, you've no idea." Jacob rubbed at his eyes.

"Right, like you told the deer to run out into the road and jump on the car." Dakota rolled her eyes.

Jacob sighed heavily and stood, holding a hand out for Dakota. Her hand was tiny in his large one. She slid off of the high chair and steadied herself before they began to walk and leave the room, Jacob freeing his hand from her's and keeping it on her lower back in case she lost her balance.

Sam was not in a good mood as he lead them out to his pale yellow car. Both boys breathed deeply in the fresh air, as if the hospital had smelled of rotting garbage. The sun had just minutes left above the horizon, casting an orange-red glow on everything, keeping the trees in shadow. Jacob sat in the back seat with Dakota, barely taking his gaze from her droopy eyes. Thirty-five minutes later Sam pulled the car up to the Coates' house; Clara was out the front door and clawing at the passenger door before Sam even put the brake on.

"My god, Kota! I was so worried!" Clara cried and pulled Dakota from the backseat and into a bone crushing hug.

"Ms. Coates..." Jacob greeted Clara as he climbed out of the car and stood a bit distanced from the two women.

"Jacob, oh, I'm so glad you weren't hurt! Thank you for looking after her." She patted Jacob's cheek in a motherly way.

"Clara, I'm alright, really. I will probably die from smothering instead!" Dakota pulled at her aunt's arm, who quickly let her go and wiped at the tears on her own face. Clara pulled back and tilted Dakota's head to look at the stitches surrounded by blue and purple.

"Oh, sweetie." She began to cry again.

"Clara, I'm fine." Dakota insisted, she turned back to Jacob and smiled, "You guys can go home, I really should get her inside. Over-reactor."

"Yeah, okay. Get some sleep?" Jacob said uneasily.

"Yeah," Dakota laughed and leaned into the backseat to grab her jacket, thanking Sam for the help, "I'll see you guys. Thank you for, you know, saving my life."

"No problem." Jacob smiled and got back into the car.

Dakota ushered her aunt back into the house, not even noticing as Sam sped off down the road.

--

"What was that?"

"What?"

"You know what."

Jacob glared over at Sam from the passenger seat, "That's not it."

"Then what is it, Jake?" Sam insisted, keeping his eyes on the dark road ahead.

Jacob sat back with his arms crossed over his chest, refusing to speak a word about Dakota and what Sam was assuming. Sam huffed and sped on down the road toward his own home, where the rest of the pack was waiting.

* * *

"I thought you said it would be tonight." the largest Cullen sounded annoyed as he, Alice, Rosalie, and Carlisle sat waiting on the sheet covered sofas in the newly scrubbed living room of their old home.

Alice narrowed her golden eyes, "My visions are not definite, the future can change at any time, not to mention that I have no specific timing on her death, just the date she will be found. There are four days between today and the date Charlie gave to the paper."

Carlisle sat with his foot resting on his knee, his chin resting on his fist, watching the cell phone in his free hand. For the first time in many a moons Carlisle Cullen was worried. Not about his own life, or the life of his family, but of the death that would happen on his own property to the girl he met only hours earlier.

The bright ring and light buzz of the cellphone brought Carlisle back to reality. He calmly opened the phone and held it to his ear, listening intently.

"_Carlisle, we're bringing Bella down with us._"

"Edward-"

"_She insisted. You know Bella well._"

"Alright, then. We haven't had any run-ins with the trespasser as of yet; be careful coming down, he is one vicious killer, Edward."

"_Hey, Carlisle?! Please, don't let Charlie get any sort of whiff that I'm coming! Or Edward, for that matter._"

Carlisle laughed lightly at the new voice, "Yes, Bella. We've already taken precautions."

"_Thank you._" The phone went silent with the soft tone of an ended call. Carlisle flipped the phone shut, not bothering to share the information with the others, he knew they had heard Bella.

"This can't be good. No offence, but Bella's a trouble magnet." Emmett sighed.

* * *

"Kota, you're okay!" A bouncy little girl skipped down the hallway to her aunt and older sister.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Dakota asked as she picked up her sister, Kayla.

"Aunt Clara said you were in a car crash and you were at the hopspitle."

Dakota laughed at her sister's pronunciation, "I was, but there is nothing wrong with me. See." Dakota demonstrated by lifting her sister over her head.

"Then what's with the stiches?" Kayla scrunched her face up and gently touched the bruised area on Dakota's head.

"That is a battle wound. I fought pirates today, Kayla." Dakota lowered her sister to the floor.

"Just like Peter Pan?"

"Mhm, just like Peter Pan."

Kayla grinned and took Dakota's hand pulling her forcefully down the hallway to the bedroom she shared with Logan. Kayla opened the door and let go of her sister's hand, letting her come in on her own. Kayla skipped across to her bed and unzipped her lime green back pack, searching for something. At last, Kayla pulled out a piece of printer paper that had become folded and tattered at the edges and took it back to Dakota.

"I made this for you at school, Kota." Kayla grinned.

"Thank you, I'll put it up on my wall as soon as I can. Now, you should go get ready for dinner."

"Okay. You should too, Kota." Kayla sing-songed out the door.

"I will."

Dakota studied the picture her sister had given her. The white paper was covered in bright paints. In the center of the paper was a stick figure with short black hair, wearing a yellow dress and holding a thick black stick that was a sword. Around the stick girl were big blobs in the shapes of hand prints and other shapes: monsters. Dakota noticed between the closet monsters were dark shapes, some with yellow eyes, some with red eyes, and others with white eyes.

This was no ordinary imagination gone wild.

This was one of Kayla's dreams.


	6. Chapter Five: Father

_Tap. Tip-tap. Tap. Tap._

The low branches of the tree out back glanced against the roof and Dakota's window in the midnight wind. Robbie had heard of Dakota's accident and hospital trip and had called to give her time off to recover; Dakota had a theory that he was being generous only so he would be the go-to at the shop. He really disliked her.

Dakota pulled her pillow from over her head and sat up in her bed. The wind had been keeping her up, usually it wouldn't have been a problem, but it was an unusually dry night and there was no thunder or rain to mask the annoyance. The brown haired girl sighed and got out of bed. She stretched her arms and left her room to the bathroom.

In the bathroom Dakota flipped on the light and closed the door to a crack. She went to the sink and opened the medicine cabinet above, taking out the bottle of aspirin. She closed the door and caught sight of her face in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled and there were noticeable dark circles under her almond eyes. The bruises on her temple had begun to turn green and yellow, some still black and purple. She grimaced.

"The things I get myself into."

_Thunk. Thunk._

Dakota stood still and quiet in the bathroom. She placed the bottle on the counter and pulled the bathroom door open slowly, peeking out into the dark hallway. Clara could be heard snoring in her room, Logan and Kayla were just across the hall with both night lights blazing in their respective plugs, nothing amiss.

Dakota placed a bare foot on the carpet and stepped out of the bathroom, leaving the light on, and tiptoed over to the edge of her room and grabbed a lacrosse stick from behind her dresser. She padded down the rest of the dark hallway, going to the kitchen first. The blinds were open in the windows, letting the moonlight and street lamp light flood onto the floor.

There was nothing wrong in the kitchen. She proceeded down the hallway and peeked around the corner into the living room. The fish tank was bright with its night light, there was nothing in the floor or on the sofas. Dakota dropped her lacrosse stick to her side and sighed; there was nothing wrong, just her tired mind playing tricks.

_Thunk. Thunk._

That wasn't a mind trick. That was a real sound coming from the real out doors. Dakota's breath caught in her throat, she was not one for midnight sounds in the dark. Her father had always taken care of it. Dakota blinked a few times, trying to keep the hot tears from climbing her lids.

She leaned against the door frame of the living room for a moment before taking a few steps into the room and lifting a blade of the blinds. The street lamp glowed a bright yellow, the pool below held nothing. Though all around were shadows. The trees held dark secrets as well as the small dark houses across the street; anything could be hiding behind them. Dakota was satisfied with the sight of nothing horrifying.

_Thunk. Thunk._

Dakota started, slightly whimpering. Her breath came fast and short, her hands and feet began to sweat. She dropped her weapon and ran as silently as possible to her bedroom and leapt on her bed, tearing at the blinds over her bed. Her hands were shaking now. Dakota glanced panicky around the backyard. Nothing.

The tops of the filled trees were swaying dangerously in the summer wind.

_Thunk. Thunk._

Dakota's eyes widened and she stared intensely into the shadows at the forest edge behind the small house. She swallowed hard, imagining things in the shadows. Her heart beat had increased rapidly and was now pounding as hard as it could against her ribcage.

Five minutes passed and Dakota began to relax, her tense muscles unclenching. The strange sound hadn't been heard. Dakota let her hand lift slightly on the blind blade, her stare still intense on the shadows. Her breathing regulated as well as her heart rate. Dakota sat back on her heels--

_SMACK. THUNK. THUNK. SCREEECH._

Dakota jumped and a strangled sound made its way from her vocal chords. She slid backwards off the bed and crept over to the door, closing it quickly and locking the flimsy lock. She rushed over to her bed and flung the blankets on top of herself. She curled up into a ball and began to hyperventilate. The tears she had been holding in began to flow freely across her face; the soft sobs wracking her curled body.

Her head began to ache with the tears, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold in her noise. Dakota couldn't hold it and lost a huge sob, though it was muffled under the puffed fabrics, "Dad."

* * *

Clara Coates rose early that Friday morn and silently went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the sleeping and herself. It was the last day of the week she would have to devote her early morning hours to her nieces and nephew, and she was relieved. Clara loved her family without a doubt, but she was tired of how quickly motherhood had come upon her, as well as under the current circumstances.

Clara entered the kitchen and began to pull out the ingredients she would need for the morning. Only six months prior her only family had been living a fast-paced life in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her brother John, his wife Lucy, and their three children: Dakota, Logan, and Kayla Coates; Clara's last remaining family.

The Tulsa family had been on their way to a soccer game for Logan, but Kayla had been attending a birthday party for one of her friends. Kayla had been spared the trauma of the wreck.

The wreck had been shown on the news and reported in the local paper of La Push: John Coates had been a large contributor to the community while he had lived on the reservation as a child and young man.

An eight-teen wheeler had lost control of his load while traveling down the highway out of Tulsa. The large lead pipes had fallen and spilled across the road, some had flown through the air; the Coates' car had been the receiver of the load.

All traffic had skidded to a stop. The car horn stuck in its monotonous tone as the vehicle sat crushed against the stone piling separating the lanes of the road. Later pictures revealed that had the side airbags and front seats not been in their positions, both Dakota and Logan would have been killed on impact. John and Lucy were not as lucky.

Clara glanced up at the Christmas portrait hanging above the kitchen table. John sat in the middle of the sofa with each of his arms around Lucy and Clara. Dakota sat at her father's feet, Logan on the arm of the sofa, and Kayla in her mother's arms. Dakota's hair had been much longer, almost waist length. She had chopped it off after the accident.

During her time in foster care, Dakota had cut her hair suddenly and it had been an alarm for the care givers. It was decided that she begin to see a therapist for grief, as her brother and sister already were. She had taken the deaths of her parents harder than any other, but she had shed no tears, spoken no negative words on life, and had accepted the help given to her. Dakota was released soon after into her aunt's custody, Logan and Kayla were soon to follow. Clara moved down to Tulsa to be with the family. Dakota finished out her schooling, and that summer they had all flown back up to Washington where they would attempt to live as happy as a family could be after what had been dealt to them.

Dakota had taken on the role of both parents in the end, taking what little help Clara could offer her. Though she had never shown the stress and grief she bore, Clara knew Dakota was still mourning. Her hair had not grown much.

Clara pulled the finished pancakes out of the pan and on to a plate, and pushed the eggs into a bowl to cool before leaving the kitchen to wake the sleeping. Logan and Kayla were already up and about, but there had been no peep from Dakota. Clara was worried about her. She had been since she had heard about the hit. She feared it would trigger something that was just under the surface. She went to Dakota's door and placed a hand on the knob. She turned it, but it stopped short. She knocked softly:

"Sweetie, breakfast's ready, are you hungry?"

No answer. She knocked again.

"Dakota, honey, wake up."

Clara heard a rustling sound and was soon met with the sound of a lock unbolting and the tired face of her young charge. Her white tank top was severely wrinkled and her pant legs rolled high above her knees.

"Morning, sunshine." Clara greeted with a smile.

"Morning, Clara. Not really in the mood to talk." Dakota said hoarsely as she shuffled passed her aunt and into the bathroom.

"Bad night?"

"You've got no idea."

--

Dakota had spent her morning in front of the t.v. watching cartoons with her siblings before they were off to school, and then moved on to the bad soap operas that followed. Clara had gone across town to see one of her friends, leaving Dakota to do as she pleased for the day, to relax. But Clara had been reluctant. Dakota had insisted.

And there she sat at four in the afternoon, flipping channels from local news stations to after school cartoons and reality shows. Clara and Kayla had arrived home an hour before hand, Logan was at soccer practice. Dakota was bored out of her skull with having nothing productive to do. So she sat cross legged on the couch in her pajamas, playing keep away with Kayla.

Until the doorbell wrung.

Dakota sprang up, not pausing to let the blood in her head settle, and rushed to the door. She ran her fingers through her hair once or twice before opening the door. She was surprised by who was standing on the other side of the screen door.

"Uh, hi?"

"Hey." Said the boy, nonchalantly.

Dakota looked over the boy. He was tall and tan, cropped brown hair, brown eyes, very common in the town.

"Can I help you?" Dakota asked, opening the door a little further.

"Yeah, Jake sent me to give a bike to you." He sounded bored.

Dakota looked down at the steps, her bike was leaned cautiously against the rail, "Um, thanks."

There was a small silence as the boy and Dakota both watched the floor. Dakota broke the silence.

"I'm Dakota." She smiled and held out a hand.

The boy smiled, it was a charming smile, "Seth."

"Well, thank you Seth, for the bike. Uh, thank Jacob for me, too, will you?"

"Yeah, of course. Nice meeting you." Seth smiled and turned to leave, walking slowly across the porch and moseying down the steps.

Dakota sighed as he stopped and stood in front of her house, "Is there something else?"

Seth turned and lifted his eyes to her's, he looked so much like a sad puppy, "Mm, I was kind of supposed to watch you."

Dakota was taken aback, "What?"

"Well, not like a stalker. I can't really tell you, but Jake said I should." Seth stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The short girl leaned out of the doorway and into the outdoors, "If you promise that is what you're supposed to do, will you come with me so I can get out of the house?"

Seth hesitated, his bottom lip hanging open as if mid sentence, "Um, okay?"

Dakota smirked and went back inside. Within five minutes she was sprinting down the steps while pulling on her black hoodie, in a completely different outfit, she pulled her arm through the sleeve and threw her shoes to the ground so she could step into them. Quickly afterwards she grabbed hold of Seth's wrist and pulled him away from the house to the road.


	7. Chapter Six: No Way

Neither Dakota nor Seth had bothered to look back at the little house as they walked side-by-side up to the road. Had they, Dakota would have noticed the largest branch of the tree outside her window had broken and lay partially against her window and partially on the ground. Had they looked back, Seth would have been in quite a predicament.

Seth walked a bit off to the side and behind Dakota, uncomfortable with her intense friendliness on the day they had met, only minutes from that moment. He studied her from behind: the way her jeans soaked up the rain water as she walked, how she wore her sleeves pushed up and the hair on her arms raised even with the humidity, how her short hair swished occasionally. When she had answered the door he had noticed the despairity in her eyes, the excitement, and the disappointment at mention of her bike. She had a sweet smile, expressive dark eyes; no wonder Jacob liked her so much.

"So, how old are you, Seth?"

"I just turned fifteen."

"Really," Dakota looked over at him, "I would have thought you were older."

"Yeah, we grow 'em big on the rez." Seth laughed softly. Dakota did too.

They walked in silence for a while; Dakota with her hand in her jacket pockets, Seth with his swinging with his arms from his green short sleeved t-shirt. Eventually they hit the edge of the "inner"-town where all of the shops and grocery store resided. Dakota stopped and waited for Seth to catch up, he had been lagging behind, listening unto her knowledge.

"So, what kind of errands are you running?" Seth asked.

Dakota scrunched her mouth to one side in thought, "I don't know. What's around here to do?"

Seth gaped at her for a moment and sighed, "Well, there's not much. Not in town anyway. We usually cliff-dive when the weather's nice and we have nothing else to do."

"I don't think I'm ready to do that," Dakota proceeded down the sidewalk towards the grocery store, "My friends back in Tulsa did that when they had the chance to get out of the city. I never did. I'm chicken."

Seth followed keeping his distance and mouth shut. He followed Dakota around the corner and into the grocery store. Dakota grabbed a red, plastic handled basket and began on isle one. The pair stayed in the semi-comfortable silence as Dakota filled the small basket with odds and ends.

"Hey, Seth, find something." Dakota called from one end of the fourth isle.

"I can't let you buy me anything." He complained and came closer to her.

"Sure you can. I've seen how you rez kids eat, and Clara always tells me how much she sees her friends cooking. Like you said, they grow 'em big on the rez." Dakota smiled and threw a bag of treats to Seth. He caught them easily and turned them over, a bag of giant marshmallows. He looked back up at Dakota, and she was gone.

"Come on, Seth!"

Seth followed her voice and found her two isles over placing a box of graham crackers and two bars of chocolate in the small carry-basket. She crossed the isle and picked up a package of napkins. She finally turned to face him, "You're not lactose intolerant are you?"

Seth looked blankly at her, "Uh, not that I know of."

"Good."

With marshmallows still in hand, Seth followed Dakota yet again down and around isles. When Dakota finally came to a stop at the check out counter the basket had been filled to three times as much as when he had received the marshmallows. He placed them on the top of the basket. Before he could say anything, Dakota had pulled a black wallet from her back pocket and slapped down fifteen dollars.

Seth had no idea where this all was going, but it was going somewhere, and he wondered why he had been the one stuck with such a strange, yet interesting person, instead of who really should have. From what he had heard about her through his mother and sister, Dakota didn't go to school and worked at Robbie's. She was sixteen, going on seventeen, and was Clara Coates' niece. He didn't think she had many friends in La Push, well, not any that were girls. And she acted a lot like a boy, but he didn't think she wasn't into guys.

He was over thinking the situation.

* * *

"He followed us back here last night, Jake. Embry went by your girlfriend's house this morning, said that a big branch from that tree in the backyard fell. And we all know it wasn't raining that hard."

"She isn't my girlfriend, Quil."

"Sure, of all the things to get mad about it's that I called her your girlfriend and not the fact that your girlfriend is being tracked by a leech." Quil placed his hands behind his head and leant back in his chair, grinning.

"When's everyone supposed to be here?" Jacob opened the refrigerator door and stuck his head in, evading the 'girlfriend' conversation.

"What, you don't listen anymore?" Quil raised an eyebrow.

Jacob grunted and closed the door, "Not really. Haven't been for a while, if you do remember."

"Well, you better start. We're scouting today." Quil stood and went to the open door just in time to see Sam, Embry, and Leah walk around the corner of the little red house and up the front step.

"He's heading North." Sam called into the house, his voice reverberating off of the walls.

"Where's Seth?" Leah asked, seemingly to show general concern for her younger brother.

"He's with Dakota Coates. I told him to keep an eye on her." Jacob glanced around the small room of a kitchen, looking for somewhere to stare as not to make eye contact with the others.

"Right," Sam turned to the window where the sun could be seen lowering itself behind the trees, "Leah, you and Jake go out east; Quil, Embry go west; I'll take north."

"I thought you said the bloodsucker was going north, if that's the case, why aren't we all going the same direction?" Leah flipped her black hair over her shoulder and gazed with a touch of anger at Sam.

"He might double back. Let's go." Sam turned and left the house in a hurry, not stopping to wait for the others.

Quil and Embry bounded out of the house and into the forest behind Sam. Jacob and Leah stood in silence in the small kitchen. Neither one said anything until Leah huffed and uncrossed her arms, "Come on, Jacob!"

Leah was gone in a flash, leaving Jacob to catch up, "What a harpy."

* * *

How and what they had spent the whole afternoon on was unimaginable to Seth. He had gone with Dakota to the grocery store, after that they had walked out to the small rec. center near the school and ate what would have been smores if a fire had been going. Then they had talked; about all sorts of things: favorite television shows, movies, video games, the occasional book, cars, food, the comparisons of Tulsa and La Push. It had been endless. And now the sun was hidden behind the ever growing clouds, hovering just above the treetops.

They sat on an old, paint chipped bench with the paper bag of goods between them. Seth was unsure of what to do, with the current situation on the rez, he probably should be escorting her home, but she was such great company. He guessed that it wouldn't be weird if he popped by her house every now and again if he had nothing else going on. And Dakota had said she had a little brother, more reason to go; if he was of Quileute blood, there was a very good chance he would soon be part of the current situation.

"I should probably get going." Dakota stood and brushed the paint chips off her jeans and jacket.

"Yeah, I'll come with you." Seth stood beside her and took the paper bag from her hands.

"You don't have to, it's just a couple blocks over. I don't want to put you out."

"No problem, strange things happen after dark on the rez anyway." Seth walked ahead.

"What do you mean "strange things"?" Dakota jogged up to pace with him.

Seth smiled and began the most feared and beloved myths of the Quileute. Creatures called the "cold ones" and the battles fought between the "cold ones" and the spirit warriors of Quileute blood. How a third wife had sacrificed herself to save her loved ones, how the third wife had been brought back many years later, and how the third wife had become entangled with a "cold one", with whom she spirited away.

"So, the third wife loved two men at once, and neither were her husband? That's kind of sick." Dakota said with a disgusted look on her face. She and Seth were now walking from street light to street light, two streets away from Dakota's home.

"I guess you could say that. But, wouldn't it be better to be with your soul mate?" Seth stopped and placed the bag down so he could tie his shoe.

"Sure, but your soul mate isn't always the person you love." Dakota stopped beside him but glanced down, "There is no way you are just fifteen."

Seth laughed and began tying his shoe. Dakota pulled the bag of marshmallows out and stuffed a handful in her mouth. As she waited for Seth to finish up she walked a few feet ahead, balancing on the cracks in the road. She stopped at a strange dark puddle on the ground, it wasn't water for sure. She squatted down to get a better look, noticing that the puddle drained off into the ditch on the side of the road. She stood and followed the string of liquid and soon regretted her action. A rank smell came over the area, something had died and had been thrown into the ditch. Still curious, though slightly disgusted, Dakota pulled the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose and craned her neck to get a better look. She didn't see anything in the dark, but there was a strange sound coming from the high grass.

It was high-pitched, as if someone was whispering at an extraordinary speed. Dakota backed away, not watching her footing and slipped in the puddle. Her shirt slipped from her face, and she screwed her face into a worried look. The liquid was thick and sticky, it smelled old. Her heartbeat climbed and her breath quickened.

A low growl came from the dark. Dakota scrambled to get up, but was brought down by gravity. A scream clawed at her throat, wanting to be let out. She stumbled up and ran to the middle of the street, she could hear something large pounce from the brush behind her. A loud cry erupted from one of the large creatures. Dakota swung around and screamed. Before her eyes a large man was pinned to the ground by the much smaller Seth.

"S-seth..." Dakota took a step forward and then two back when a growl escaped Seth's lips.

His irises grew to saucer sizes and the brown overtook the white, Seth growled again, his lips pulled back showing his bright teeth, "Go! Go, now!"

Dakota was stunned, glued to the spot. She had been holding her breath, shaking, and staring. Her face was ashen as the two struggled against each other, her eyes began to water, her palms began to sweat underneath the blood.

"Go, Dakota!"

Dakota jumped and hesitantly stepped backward, only beginning to run at the sound of the large man's growl. As she pounded her feet against the pavement, she could hear the growls and howls of the two wrestling. And then they stopped; so did she. Dakota stood in the silence of the dark street, she turned and sucked in a breath: Seth and the strange creature weren't there. Dakota began to panic even further, she glanced around her with no sign of either creature.

"No...no." She whimpered and wiped at her eyes and nose. A deep growl came from directly in front of her. Dakota backed up and darted to her left, heading for her home. The sweat was pouring from her skin now, her legs were weak and shaky, her breathing jagged and lung scorching.

And then it hit her.


	8. Chapter Seven: Beyond

"_Do you know what the dream was about?_"

"No."

"_Do you know what were behind the monsters in the picture?_"

"More monsters?"

"_The black figures with the oddly colored eyes._"

"I don't know. Should I?"

"_Yes and no._"

"Who are you?"

Dakota cracked her eyes open slowly to see what the pain was. The rain on her face woke her almost as instantly as the pain in her head had. She lay face down on the ground, covered from head to toe in mud save half of her face and parts of her clothes.

The sky was just below a dull glow in color; purple rainclouds hid the last bit of sun. Dakota pushed herself up and turned to sit on her backside. She had no clue as to where she was. She raised a muddied hand to her head and felt the mixture of blood and mud. She pushed the pain aside and instead went to figuring a way home in the dark and rain.

She stood slowly and silently all the while pushing the sleeve of her jacket to her head wound. Dakota's breathing came faster, her legs were still weak and shaky, and her throat dried and ached. It was pitch dark and she didn't know where she was in relation to La Push or even Forks, for that matter. She had broken into a cold sweat despite the weather.

She knew she was in a clearing. There would have been no way such a large amount of rain could reach her on the forest floor due to the thick canopy of trees. She started in a random direction not knowing where it would lead her. She could barely make out the lines of the trees around her.

"Where are you going?"

Dakota stopped dead in her tracks. Her brown eyes grew wide as she strained to see the body of the person who had spoken. The voice had come from all around, not just one area.

"Where are you going?" The voice repeated. This time Dakota was sure of the direction and turned to her left. The voice then echoed over and over in the tree tops and from all sides, until it spoke once more from right in front of the terrified girl.

A small noise escaped Dakota as a pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders and a cold, sweet breath breezed across her face. She couldn't breath, couldn't speak, couldn't blink.

"Where are you going?"

It was a man. Dakota stared ahead and soon saw the edges of a pale face staring back at her.

A smile broke his chalky lips and showed two rows of jagged teeth. His mouth twisted into a grin and his claws of hands squeezed her shoulders. He bent forward and rested his nose on her head, he breathed deep, inhaling the scent of her blood.

He was going to kill her.

* * *

"Quil, hurry it up, he's doubled back through Forks!"

"Really, I didn't notice." Quil replied sarcastically to Embry.

Both Embry and Quil dug up the ground underneath them to make it back to Forks. The rain hadn't ceased since they had left after the leech and now they were covered in the brown mush; it wasn't good for the fur.

"_Embry, Quil: I'm just past the city limits, Sam's behind me. We're going ahead; Jared, and Paul are on their way; get here quick._"

"Jake, don't do anything stupid. It's not _him_."

* * *

The rain was splattering now.

Dakota stood stock-still. The rain soaked her to the bone and weighed her down. Her hair was tangled and stuck to her face. The man still held Dakota in a vice grip, grinning from ear to ear. Thunder roared over head.

"You can't leave yet. The game has just began, little one." He took dropped his hands to his sides. The pale man took a step forward and Dakota took two back. The man laughed, he was toying with his prey. He took a few more steps.

Dakota stop when she felt something solid behind her. She reached back, never taking her eyes off of the man. It was a tree, he was cornering her, but it wasn't quite close enough. She glanced to her right, taking in her chances of escaping to freedom. A shadow crossed the man's face and his eyes narrowed with anger.

"What are you thinking, little one?" His voice was soft and curious with an edge. Dakota stared up at him and shook her head vigorously, "No, I think you're lying."

Dakota slammed against the tree behind her. She thought she could feel the trunk's bark give way under her small frame. His hand was now around her neck, not crushing, just holding her in place. Dakota's hand clamped around the man's forearm in self-defense, trying to pry his hand away, but it was no use. She struggled and kicked only to find a wide, toothy smile plastered on his face. He enjoyed this.

The man slid Dakota high above the ground, her feet dangling as she kept her hold on his arm. Her face quickly turned red as she had trouble breathing. Her jaw and neck began to hurt and she became lightheaded and her vision wavered.

The inhuman man leant close and let his pointed nose graze the skin of her jaw, over her hair, and across her closed eyes before reaching the open wound at her temple. As he breathed shallowly on the tender skin Dakota tensed. Another roll of thunder was heard. Moments later lightening followed. The pale man tensed. A low growl erupted from his throat and he dropped Dakota to her feet and whipped around.

The sky lit up again, revealing a line of people standing behind the pale man. Dakota slipped to a sitting position at the roots of the tree. Taking her shaky breaths she looked ahead to the line of people. Another rumble and light. She could see the sinister snarls on all of their white faces. The rumble continued into a high series of cracks, and a light show ensued. This time six large, dark creatures came from the trees behind the line of five.

Dakota pushed herself as close as she could to the tree trunk. Those dark creatures were giant, as tall as her house. And they were wolves. The wolf at the head of formation was solid black, two were darker shades of gray, one was silver, and the last two were brown colored.

The two brown flanks rounded out the edges, along with a gray and silver, to make a half-moon behind the pale people. Each one of the wolves were beautiful. Dakota didn't doubt their prowess or the harm that could be inflicted, but was instantly stunned. Lightning flashed again and she could see the wolves watching her captor, though one was watching her. It was the lighter brown wolf; his large, dark eyes cautiously turned from her face to her captor's.

"You're working with werewolves? How pathetic." Dakota's captor sneered. Werewolves?

"We are willing to negotiate this-," the older looking line-person was cut off by a chorus of growls from the wolves, he continued, "We've made a living here."

"And I am supposed to care? No one has been here in months, wouldn't you take her anyway?" Her captor cocked his head to the side, staring straight ahead at the line-person who spoke.

The captor smirked and in an instant was next to Dakota, pulling her up by her jacket.

The wolves let out another rumble and the line-people bent, ready to pounce. Her captor pulled Dakota close and toyed with her hair while watching the defenders. Dakota couldn't breath again.

She took in shallow breaths, frightened. For weeks after her parents' death she had wished she had been taken instead, and now it was going to happen, but she didn't want to leave the living world behind...she had so much to look forward to. Dakota squeezed her eyes shut as her captor leant closer to her face.

_Crraaaaccck._

The tree shook. An orchestra rumble in the sky accompanied a symphony of lightning.

All was silent.

"Go."

Dakota's eyes flew open and turned slowly. Another pale being was there. But he had pinned her captor to the tree.

"_Don't look at him._"

Dakota turned from the two and her captor began to struggle beneath her hero's hands. Dakota heard her hero's voice again, urging her to run. And so she did. She started off, slipping on the mud, but soon caught her footing. She pumped her arms and pulled at her feet as the mud sucked her down. She passed the line of pale people; they were so ethereal looking. She wasn't watching her footing as she passed and tripped, falling hard to her knees. Dakota hurried to get to her feet, but was stopped when she felt the rain stop pelting her. She looked up and gasped at the sight of a pair of furry legs. It was the black wolf.

The wolf glanced down at her and then stepped quickly around her, a rumble shook the ground. Dakota sat on the ground just staring at the mud until a sharp bark and tug on her sleeve broke her trance. She jerked her head up to see what it was and came face to face with a pale woman. The woman smiled and held out a hand to Dakota. Another bark came from behind the woman, Dakota looked around her and saw the lighter brown wolf watching closely, the fur on its back spiked with tension.

She took the woman's hand and was hauled to her feet. Dakota turned to look at the beings behind her. The only other person in the clearing was a blonde haired boy. The rumble she had heard wasn't thunder but the sound of the wolves running after her captor. She turned from the boy back to the wolf and woman. The woman had a sympathetic look on her face that was barely tinged with disgust.

"Your name is Dakota, correct." The woman spoke the statement with a soft voice.

"Y-yeah." Dakota lifted a hand to her head and pushed her mud-stuck hair behind her ear, showing the gash in her skin where the stitches had busted. The pale woman glanced to the blonde boy and a streak of panic flashed in her eyes before she calmed and turned to Dakota.

"My name is Esme. We should get you back to the house and cleaned up," a growl came from the large wolf next to her, "I'm not going to do any harm. Bella will be happy to see you."

The wolf grunted and came closer to the two females. Dakota stepped back in awe of its height. It was over two feet taller than her five foot four, and was as wide as a pick-up truck. The wolf lowered its head to Dakota's level and stared at her face for the longest time. It had deep, chocolate brown eyes. Suddenly he whipped his head toward the pale woman, they shared a look and the woman nodded and turned to the forest.

The blonde boy followed the woman. The wolf nudged Dakota with its nose to follow the two into the trees. She did as implied and allowed the wolf to stay close behind her. The pale people kept quiet as they walked noiselessly through the brush. The wolf was alert at all times with his ears pricked. Dakota had trouble walking so quickly in the dark and stumbled multiple times, to her slight embarrassment.

Dakota tramped along with the strangers and monster. The rain had let up before they had started into the forest and now that there was no constant Dakota began to dry. The smallest breeze that passed made her shiver. The wolf had come to walk next to her and no matter if it was a friend or foe an extreme amount of heat radiated from its body.

"Jasper, thank you." The woman said to the blonde boy and he disappeared silently as the woman, Esme, turned stopped just before a clearing. Dakota had no idea how long or how far they had walked, but she had a feeling of warmth and hominess coming from the area.

"J-," Esme caught herself, "You can either stay outside or come in. It is your choice, but Bella will have to deal with her until Carlisle returns. I'll be staying outdoors."

Esme asked that Dakota follow her and lead her passed a few trees and into a clearing that held a large, white pillared house. Esme went up the front steps and stopped at the front door, she knocked several times to a beat, a signal. Dakota hadn't followed her up the wooden steps.

She could hear voices coming from the doorway. A beam of light fell on her and the small square of lawn around her. Her head ached and her eyes drooped, she swayed slightly.

"Dakota?" She didn't know that voice.

"Dakota?" That one was familiar.

"Dakota?!" It couldn't be.

"Hurry, get her inside." A new voice echoed as warm arms caught her waist. Her feet left the ground and she was pressed against a warm body. Different voices went in and out her ears. Dakota couldn't concentrate and soon slipped into unconsciousness.


	9. Chapter Eight: Heritage

There was a floating sensation present in the dark that enveloped her. The rain stung her skin, but there was no water, just the pin-prick of the drops.

Her skin soon numbed to the cold rain and her bones began to ache. Her eyes seemed to creak open only to blurr and burn at the bright white light above her. She felt ill and dizzy. Again in the dark she reached for her face; her head swam. Her arms were flimsy and refused to stay up without any amount of struggle.

Dakota's body was somewhere in between burning hot and freezing cold. She had broke into a cold sweat and it had not lifted. Her hand finally found its way to her cheek and slid upwards to her forehead. Her finger tips grazed the edges of the stitches and she winced. Dakota sucked in a cool breath and held it to keep the pain at bay.

She lay on the stone that caused her joints pain and let out her breath. Her lungs stung with the cold air and she shivered. Dakota moved her arm to her brow and cracked her eyes open once more, the shadow easing the edge of the light. The light wasn't white, but a dull yellow, the one that was attatched to the living room fan. She tilted her head up and saw that her feet had been proped up against pillows. She looked to the left of the couch she was on and saw Clara asleep in the large green chair: a thin blanket draped across her frame and the cordless telephone clutched in her hand.

Dakota pushed herself up on her elbows and winced at the pounding in her head. She sat up and heaved her legs and feet off the sofa. As dizzy as she was, Dakota proceeded to stand and walk shakily across the room to her aunt, taking short breaks in between to catch her balance. She put a hand on Clara's shoulder and shooker her lightly. Clara woke quickly and imediately went into hysterics. Nothing Dakota did or said calmed her, so she just stood hunched over in her aunt's arms. Eventually her sobs subsided.

"They said you fell and wouldn't wake up," Clara wiped at her eyes and held Dakota away from her; inspecting her, "Are you okay, your stitches busted."

Dakota cracked a smile and nudged her aunt playfully, "I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound."

Clara glared up at her, "Don't joke Kota, I was so worried."

Dakota's eyes grew sad, "I'm sorry. It was an accident. But I'm good; I'm a quick healer."

Clara pulled her into a bone crushing hug and held her there for a few minutes. Those minutes passed and the two parted. Clara suggested Dakota take a bath, not a shower, it would be relaxing. Dakota agreed and went about the house quietly as not to wake Kayla or Logan; it was only four in the morning on a Saturday.

As Dakota lay in the porcaline bath tub she thought of the events that had led to her being there in the first place. She remembered going out with Seth. She remembered him walking her home. She remembered a horrible smell and how dark it was. She remembered the rain, the mud. She remembered the pain and fear. She remembered the pale faces and the large creatures. Nothing added up to what Clara had told her. She had supposedly tripped and busted her stitches open, and having fallen unconscious Seth carried her across town in the dead of night to Sue the local RN, and then Clara had been called and chaos insued.

It was possible. To have been unconsious and only dreamt of the strange situation in the trees. That was always a possibility. But as Dakota looked over her arms and legs, the bruises told a completely different story. There could have been no way tripping and hitting her head had caused scratches and bruises on her shoulders, arms, or back. Concrete was hard, but nothing that rough. Dakota needed to speak to Seth the next morning at a more appropriate time for an inquisition.

The next morning Dakota woke at noon. Clara had fallen asleep again the night before and Dakota hadn't wanted to wake her. Considering she could possibly have had a concusion, it wasn't the best choice but Clara had already endured a little too much from Dakota's adventures.

Dakota dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and pulled her short hair back into a ponytail before setting off to find the only phonebook in the house. Once she found it she opened the pages to the Cs and scanned the page for Clearwater. There were more than one due to the name being common among the tribe. She did find a Harry and Sue Clearwater, Sue was right. She dialed the number and waited impatiently for the rings to cease and for another voice on the other end.

"_Hello?_"

"Uh, hi. Sue, this is Dakota Coates-"

"_Oh, yes! It's good to know you feel fine enough to be out of bed._" Sue's happy voice pitched in a high tone over the phone.

"Yeah, thank you, by the way."

"_It is no problem dear, it's my job._" Sue laughed.

"Heh, yeah. I was actually calling to see if Seth was around?" Dakota pinched the bridge of her nose.

"_Yes, he is. One second._"

"_Hello?_" A male voice came over the line.

"Seth, it's Dakota. I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"_Oh, hey. Um, I'm not sure if I'm going to be here. Supposed to go fishing with a few of the guys._" He sounded uncomfortable.

"Well, listen, I could talk to them too. It is Sam and Jacob right?" Dakota leaned against the kitchen counter.

"_Well, yeah. I guess we could wait._"

"Good, I'll be there in a few minutes." Dakota didn't wait for a reply before she hung the phone up. She wrote a quick note and took it to her aunt's room and placed it on her nightstand. Dakota then found a clean jacket in her room and left the house, grabbing her bike on the way.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell her we weren't here?" Jacob asked feverently.

"I don't know. Don't you think she has the right to know? She has a brother." Seth defended.

"Sam, you think this is ridiculous right?" Jacob turned to the tall Sam. Sam was thinking.

"It might be, it might not be. We don't know anything about her. I'm sure the elders would know if there were any risks about her brother, or even her for the matter." Sam confided.

"You're both crazy," Jacob snapped, "Sam, this is the exact thing _you_ didn't want before."

Jacob was nose to nose with Sam. It was true, Sam hadn't wanted Bella to know. The elders hadn't wanted anyone outside of the changes to know about the truth, let alone anyone outside of the tribe. But if Dakota's father was Quileute like Jacob had said, she might need to know. It was still all going against his own code, but the Coates family had been through many hardships; it wouldn't be right for such a curse to spring on the remaining family.

"If she asks, we tell her."

* * *

The knock on the door neither startled nor calmed the boys sitting in the small living room. None of the three boys made a move to open the door. They were hoping she would just leave. After all, there wasn't anything she needed to know. So they just sat staring at the floor.

"Come on, there is no way you've gone fishing, Seth. I'm staring right at your gear." Dakota's voice strained through the door.

The brown haired Seth sighed and stood to answer the door. He turned the brass knob and pulled the door open before stepping aside to let the girl in. She wiped her feet on the mat outside and walked around the boy into the house. Her features were solemn.

Seth closed the door with a click, "Um, have a seat?"

Dakota sat without hesitation and before she could think she spoke, "What are you two doing here?"

Both Sam and Jacob turned from her eyes.

"_You_ did want to talk to _us_," Sam spoke lowly.

"Yeah, I just thought you'd might have skipped out. Seth didn't try to make it sound like you really wanted to see me or anything. Sorry for ruining your day."

Sam and Jacob sat on the sofa while Seth and Dakota sat beside each other in their respective chairs. The four sat staring at the floor. Dakota sniffed at the cold air in the house, "So, my dad used to tell me these stories. Stories about the tribe. Said they weren't anything to believe, just a made up history, but that I should know my heritage anyway. But now I'm not so sure about them being just stories."

Dakota didn't notice the boys share a look. She continued, "Last night-"

"You tripped."

Dakota looked up at Jacob. He sat leaned back on the sofa with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking at her.

"Yeah," Dakota gave a rough laugh, "That's what everyone's telling me. But it's not true."

"My dad told me about the Cold Ones way before you did Seth. So I put two and two together."

"What are you getting at?" Jacob almost growled, his arms were covered in goosebumps again.

"Those weren't humans in that clearing. I heard him say werewolves. They were working with werewolves. He would have had to have been talking about the Cold Ones, vampires. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I swear."

Dakota turned from the floor to the space across from her. Her gaze met Jacob's. Something about his dark eyes was familiar, though not in the sense of her just seeing him before. There was something deeper.

"Why are you telling us this?" Sam's voice broke through to her.

"Because," she stared a moment longer at Jacob before taking a deep breath, "It was you."


	10. Chapter Nine: Hunger

The boys were stunned.

Never had the expected such and accusation from a girl they hardly knew, let alone someone who wasn't supposed to know about the tribe's secret.

Dakota watched all of them, but Sam most of all. He figited under her gaze and could not bring himself to meet her curious brown eyes. Dakota sighed lightly and stood. She glanced around the room and turned toeard the door, she stopped with her hand around the door knob, "Will my brother be like you?"

All three boys scrambled for an answer.

"We don't know. There's a possiblity, but it depends on how long they are here and who exactly your anceastors are." Sam said logically.

Dakota nodded and left the house. Thunder rumbled over head and rain began to sprinkle down from the sky. Dakota pulled her hood up and swung onto her bike before kicking off and peddling home.

--

"Should have played dumb." Jacob grumbled from his seat.

"May be, but she asked; she knew about it and she wasn't buying what we told everyone." Sam said from in front of the window.

"Do you really think it was such a bright idea to go telling her we're werewolves?" Jacob growled.

Seth could sense something big was about to happen so he slipped out the door and into the rain. Sam on the otherhand found it rather hard to keep so calm through gritted teeth.

"Jacob, you are on probation. You have been since you left. I understand the reason, but it gave you no right to turn your back on the pack. You aren't second in command anymore and you have no authority to be telling me what we should and shouldn't do. Do you understand?" Sam stood his ground with his arms crossed while Jacob just glared at the back of his head. Jacob didn't answer.

"Take a run, Jake. Get your head straight."

Jacob growled and proceeded to stand, walk out the door and right out into the rain. Sam was right, what he had done was wrong, but it never ceased to anger him that he had lost his ranking in the pack. So he let his bones grow and the fur warm his skin. His mind opened wide and was flooded with the emotions and thoughts that had built up from his companions.

And he ran in the rain, sticking to the trees but keeping the road in sight. It wasn't long before he came upon a drowning cyclist. She rode along in the pounding rain with what seemed not a care in the world. In the least possible stalker-ish way Jacob followed her to her home on the other side of town. It was a little brick house with hanging baskets full of flowers on the wrap-around porch. Dakota splashed through a puddle in the driveway and hurried off her bike to get it up on the porch.

"Kota!" Jacob turned a fraction to see to the left of his hiding place in the trees. Standing in the open doorway of the house was a little girl with pigtails and a smile on her face. He watched as Dakota scooped the girl up and kissed her on the forehead.

"Hey there, Kayla."

"Kota, where did you go this morning?" Kayla asked in her baby voice, Jacob perked up at these words.

"I went to talk to some people."

"Friends?" The little girl asked.

"Kind of." Dakota sat down in a rocking chair on the porch with Kayla in her lap.

"Kota, I had another dream."

"Really, what was it about?" Dakota started rocking the chair.

"That story you told me. The one about the wolves. And Logan."

Dakota slowed the rocking to a stop. Jacob watched her face. At first her features were shocked with fear, but not even a second later her face became one of a weary mother.

"You want to tell me about it?" Dakota asked.

"Logan was the wolf. He was real big and black and as big as a house." The little girl didn't seem to be bothered by the idea of her older brother being a monster.

"Did- Was there anything else, anyone else?"

"No," Kayla slid out of her sister's lap, "I'm going to go play with Logan."

Dakota sat alone on the porch for minutes on end. The rain began to pick up again and she still sat there as the wind swept the drops under the roof and on to her. She was shivering now. Jacob wasn't so sure it was the rain making her cold.

* * *

"Her sister has dreams." A bronze haired vampire said as a young woman came into the bedroom.

"Who are you talking about?" The dark haired girl asked as she sat on the bed next to him.

"The native girl. The mutt's friend. She said her sister had dreams about vampires and werewolves."

"She _said_ that?" The girl leaned against her bronze haired beauty.

"No, she dreampt it. After Esme and Jasper brought her here."

"Edward, what are you thinking?"

He was silent for a moment, "Even I don't know the answer to that question, Bella."

Truth be told: he was nervous about the girl that had been kidnapped the night before. If she knew about their people there could be a problem. Especially with the Volturi. None of the Cullens wanted to deal with the Volturi again. Not this year.

* * *

"Morning Clara." Dakota said through a mouth full of cereal.

"What are you talking about, it's one in the afternoon." Clara shuffled over to the table and sat across from her niece.

"True, but I figured since you were sleeping in the A.M. I would tell you when I got back." Dakota left the table and poured her aunt a cup of tea which she had made earlier for her.

"Thank you," Clara sipped her drink, "So, where were you anyway?"

"I went to thank Seth and Sue."

"In this weather? We do have a phone you know."

"Yeah, it wasn't raining when I left. Plus I like talking to people in person, gives me a feeling of closure, if you will."

Clara sighed and sipped her tea again. Silence fell between the two as the alternatly sipped tea and ate cereal. The rain pattered against the window and ran the length of the glass before dripping off into the mud. An hour passed.

Two hours.

Three hours.

It was still quiet around the house when the phone rang. From all corners of the house the family ran to gather in the living room to watch Dakota pull herself off the cofa, pick the phone up off the floor, and answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Coates, I need you down here._"

"Why's that? I'm supposed to be off for my injury."

"_Yeah, well, got an out-of-towner._" Robbie's voice was tight. Dakota found it hard to hold in her laughing.

"And you don't know what to look for. It's a sports car isn't it?"

"_Just get down here, Coates._"

Robbie hung up his end of the line and Dakota followed suit. She put the phone back on its base and turned around to face her family.

"Kota's got a boyfriend! Kota's got a boyfriend!" Kayla sang.

"It was Robbie, says he needs me to take a look at some car from the city," Dakota went into the hallway and grabbed her grey jacket and her keys, "Do you mind if I take the car up there?"

"Go ahead, just be careful."

"Thanks Clara!" Dakota called as sje ran out the door and out to the car. She hurriedly unlocked the door and hopped in, then put the key into the ignition and started the compact. She backed out slowly and turned out onto the road leading to the main vein through the town that lead to all the other things around.

* * *

The rain was pouring in sheets now. Save for the grocery store the town had completely closed up. The storm had picked up with high winds within seconds and began roughing up trees and buildings. This storm was worse than the night before. Way worse. Worse for many different reasons.

The creature he had created had failed. He had only been a scout, nothing more. He was sent out to retrieve information on the Cullen coven. Forks had been the perfect place for him to hunt. The climate was warmer and there were many more people here than there were in Alaska or Canada. But the Cullens had been in the way. They had been "living" in the quiant little town. He knew he wouldn't have been able to take on such a large coven himself, so he waited. It took them four years to leave and now they were back less than a year after their departure. Now he was waiting for his prey to be delivered to him. He may have been knocked out of the perfect feeding ground, but he was still going to get what he came for.

His eyes jerked to the front window as headlights grazed the ground and turned as the car parked. He had left the garage open and a small workbench light on to lure her in. No one had heard the first one yell. It was too windy. Too stormy. No one had been around. He slipped off the desk and turned to the body in the swivle chair behind him, "Show time buddy, don't miss your cue."

He laughed. The body wasn't going to answer, he was dead. In fact no one would be able to give any answers about what was going to happen that night. No one would really know what happened to Robert Sullivan. Not after this night.

* * *

Dakota pulled the key out of the ignition and prepared herself to run to the garage. She squinted through the car window and rain and could barely make out the workbench light and a car up on a jack. He took a deep breath and let it out. She opened the door and ran, slamming it behind her. She jogged with her arms over her head trying to block the water from getting into her face. Dakota jogged to a stop once in the garage and breathed herself to a normal heart rate.

She stood straight and looked around the garage. The car on the jack looked high priced and in the ownership of a mougul. She hadn't noticed the absence of her boss. She gawked up at the car; it was incredible. A strange sound startled her and she whipped around to face the opening of the dark office. She glanced out into the rainy evening. No one was there that she could see. She took a step toward the office, she couldn't see much by the street light coming through the half opened blinds.

"Robbie?"

She took another couple steps to the door and was relieved when she saw her boss sitting the the swivle chair at the desk with a beer in his hand. She sighed and proceeded into the room, "Dude, why are you sitting in the dark?"

She put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. His head fell forward and Dakota jumped. She turned the chair around so he would be facing her. And she screamed.

Blood was dried all down the front of his oily jumper. His face was contorted and pale. And the puncture wounds at the base of his neck...

Dakota backed up slowly out of the room. With trembling hands she picked the phone off the wall and put it to her ear. There was no dial tone, the line had been cut. She dropped the phone and let it hit against the wall. She took several quick steps back and then turned to run. Her feet hit the mud outside with a loud splash. She had to get to the grocery store, they were still open. There would be people there. She began to run through the rain at full speed. She ran to the end of the street and rounded a corner to the left. She ran down another block and rounded another corner to the front of the store. She pulled her way through the slow moving automatic doors and fell to her knees with a loud coughing, trying to get her breath. She looked around the front of the store. No one was at the registers.

"Hello?!" She called. Dakota pulled herself to her feet and jogged down the aisles.

"Hello?!" She ran faster. No one was in the store; everyone was missing.

Dakota ran to the back of the store and through the door to the store room.

"Is anyone here?!"

"Hey, you're not supposed to be back here!"

Dakota came to a stand still and whipped around. A blonde boy with a sticker gun was standing at the other end of the large room. Dakota ran toward him, "I need to use your phone."

"It's out of service, all of them are. Damn storms," The boy said with an angry face and turned back to a crate of cereal and began to gun the price stickers on, "You aren't supposed to be back here anyway."

Dakota made a face. Something he had said didn't make since, "It's an emergency. I need help."

The boy kept on stickering.

Dakota took a few steps back, "How do you know all of the phones aren't working?"

The boy stopped what he was doing and set the gun down. Dakota was determined to keep space between him and herself. The boy turned around and Dakota's eyes widened. His eyes were black, solid black. There was no difference between the iris and the pupil. His lips pulled back over his teeth into a smile. It wasn't a cheery smile, it was the same crazed smile the vampire had given her the night before. But this person was different. His eyes spoke of hunger, not lust.


	11. Chapter Ten: Dream

What if it were all a dream? What if all of it was a dream? What if Dakota could wake up at any moment and not be in any real danger? What if her parents were sitting in a tiny white room around a bed instead of being six feet in the ground?

There could be no vampires or werewolves. They didn't exist; they couldn't exist. They were only mythical beings from the old Quileute legends. Nothing more.

But what if they were? If they weren't just figments of a vegetablized teenager's imagination. What if they were all real? For all anyone knew Dakota could have been lying in a hospital bed in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her family and her friends coming in and out.

No.

Either way her uncle had still died. Even if it were just a dream Dakota's uncle was still dead and no where to be found in either world.

It couldn't be a dream.  
Not at all.

* * *

She ran; as fast as she could. She knew it wouldn't get her far in the end, but she wasn't going to give up hope. It was all instinct. So she ran.

Her heart pounded in her throat. She slammed her way through the double doors and out into the open store floor. Her feet skidded underneath her as she turned aisle corners. She didn't have to look behind or around herself to know that the monster was chasing her.

She made a B-line for the front doors. Her arms pumped hard as her breathing became labored. Hot tears flooded her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She rounded another corner and straight for the automatic doors.

She slid to a stop in front of the doors and began to pry at them, but she wasn't strong enough. She began to bang on the glass and metal and soon began calling for anyone. Her fists hurt and her voice was strangled.

"No one can hear you."

Dakota turned around in a heartbeat. The blonde vampire was walking slowly up the main aisle. He knew she wasn't able to get away. She was trapped and he wanted to play with his food.

Dakota scrambled to find a weapon. She dove behind a register to look for anything. There was nothing. She had been sure that even in a small little town like this on a Native American reservation there would be some sort of weapon in the store. There had to be. The edging of the register counter was metal.

She worked as quickly as she could with shaking hands. She pried at the metal edging. It loosened under her cut up fingertips and soon came off. She got her grip on the thick metal strip and stood with it in an defensive position. Dakota teetered in a circle. The vampire had gone. She took her chance and raced to the doors and jammed the strip as far as she could between them. She pulled to either side and wiggled the strip. It was no use, but she wasn't giving up.

She was concentrating too fully on the doors to realize what was going on around her. That is until a body came crashing to her side and into the glass door. Dakota dropped the strip as she flinched away from the flying shards of glass. The glass settled and she turned to see what or who it was. The blonde vampire sat against the door slouched over. All she could do was stare, until a hand clamped over her shoulder and she whipped around with her elbow in the air. But someone caught it before it could collide with their skull.

"You wouldn't want to do that."

Dakota was shocked. Towering above her was Jacob Black. His eyes locked on her's. The pupils of his brown eyes grew and Dakota tensed immensely. It reminded her of what had happened with Seth only the night before. Ever so slightly she began to shake.

"Not here Jake."

Jacob's eyes jerked from her's to the space behind her. He let go of her arms and took her by the hand and without another word pulled her to the back of the store and out of an emergency exit.

When the two emerged Dakota's heart almost stopped. Standing at the side of the building in the rain was the pack. All of them were shirtless, even Jacob which Dakota hadn't noticed earlier. All of them watched her. Jacob nudged her toward Seth who had seemingly grown taller in the last day.

"Seth, take her home."

Dakota was wide eyed, "What?! I can't go home!"

Sam stepped up, "Why's that?"

Dakota stood in the pouring rain gathering her thoughts, she spoke calmly, "There are two of them."

All eyes were on her.

"We killed the other one-"

"No!" Dakota's knees began to shake as fear ran up and down her spine, "R-Robbie Sullivan is dead."

Thunder rolled across the sky and no one spoke. Dakota sniffed, "It was a vampire- whoever had the sports car."

Two new wolves morphed back in the shadows of the surrounding trees. It was Jared and Paul. The pack turned to them.

"We chased him off to the cliffs. He just disappeared after that." Jared huffed.

"There's two of them. One's inside." Sam spoke, eyeing Dakota.

Seth had leant Dakota a shoulder to lean on since he had noticed her struggling to stay standing. Jacob on the other hand had turned back to the building. His large hands clenched into fists as goosebumps trailed up his arms. He closed his eyes and let the rain wash over him; he didn't care about the others at the moment. Only one thing was on his mind.

"Dakota go with Seth and Jacob."

Jacob turned to Sam, "What are we supposed to do? The leeches have invaded the reservation."

Sam's eyes grew dark and an annoyed look crossed his face, "Take her to Forks."

"What about the treaty?" Seth queried.

Sam was quiet for a moment, "This is an emergency. They have orders not to bite any human in this territory. We've got no choice, Seth."

Seth nodded in agreement and turned to leave, all the while keeping a hand on Dakota's shoulder to steady her. Jacob went behind them but was stopped by Sam before he got too far, "Don't do anything stupid, Jake. Keep it under control. Keep a distance if you have to."

* * *

Bella Cullen opened the front door of the great white house before anyone knocked. Her eyes searched the dark for what her husband had told her of. There it was.

Jacob Black and Seth Clearwater came through the trees, but there was something odd shaped on Jacob's back. Her eyes widened.

"Edward!"

* * *

The Quileute girl and te two werewolves sat at the round white kitchen table in the Cullen house. The girl held a cup of hot tea in her hands. Her tears had long since dried.

Carlisle, Alice, Edward and Bella Cullen were all placed precariously around the room. Carlisle spoke to Jacob and Seth while Alice tuned herself to Dakota and Edward picked all three native's minds.

"As if the Volturi and Victoria weren't enough in one year," Carlisle turned to Alice, "Can you find anything?"

Alice was leaning against the white wall with her arms crossed and eyes dazed, "No. They're obscuring any sort of vision concerning her. And I don't know about the other vampires."

"Edward?"

Dakota lifted her heavy brown eyes up as the bronze haired vampire stood straight at mention of his name. His eyes lingered on Jacob before turning to look at her.

"What other dreams did your sister have?"

She looked at the pale boy, "The one you know about. There were others, but please excuse me for not being able to think of them right now," she traced an image in the wood of the table with her finger, "I suppose you all are the ones with yellow eyes?"

Edward nodded, "If I may say: there will be no trouble with the Chief and you. You shouldn't worry about such trivial things."

Dakota and the others sat at the table for a little while longer. Bella sat beside her watching the table. Finally Dakota spoke up, "I'm Dakota. I don't think we properly met."

Bella eagerly shook her hand, "Yeah, not under the circumstances."

That is how things went. Eventually both Seth and Jacob went to stand gaurd outside while the Cullens scattered. Bella and Dakota stayed talking in the kitchen. It was a relief for both of them to have another female to talk to about the two different mythical beings in Washington.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Hostage

Tension had settled quite heavily throughout the Cullen house. Bella had drifted into the white depths to join her husband, leaving Dakota tracing images in the white wood of the table. Dakota sat alone for a while, just staring at the wood grain. Wondering. It was if the Cullen family was afraid to be around her. Vampires.

Dakota pushed her chair back and stood. She stretched and crossed the kitchen to the back door. She opened the door and stuck her head out into the cool night air. The first thing she saw was a large sandy wolf sleeping on the edge of the porch. She looked past him to the figure sitting against the exterior wall.

"Hey, Jacob, can I talk to you?"

He didn't answer. She let out the breath she had been holding and stepped out onto the porch and closed the dark behind her. She stepped over the snoring Seth and sat down next to Jacob. He was fidgeting with a small object. Dakota pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top.

"Why are they after me? He voice was soft. Jacob didn't answer immediately. Dakota took her expectant eyes from him. He stopped turning the object over in his hand and let it lay motionless in his palm.

"It's your blood. Once they get the taste they're obligated to finish it off. To them you're like candy."

Dakota involuntarily squeezed her legs closer to her chest and buried her face in her arms so only her eyes shone, "How come they want my blood? I'm not special."

"They like your scent," Jacob's stare lingered on the small object in his large palm, "The almost exact same thing happened two years ago."

He closed his hand and his brown eyes found their way to her's. Dakota lowered her gaze quickly and then lifted it again to speak, "What did you do last time?"

"I don't know. It wasn't my problem then. From what I've heard- the leeches don't really mind Arizona." Jacob pushed the small object into the front pocket of his jeans.

"You're the one with white eyes."

"What?"

"Edward and the other Cullens are the ones with yellow eyes; the vampires after me are the ones with red eyes; and you guys are the ones with white eyes. It was in Kayla's dream." She lifted her chin up, "Does it hurt? When you... morph?"

"It's getting cold."

"How long have you known about these vampires? How do you just co-exist?"

"You should go inside, you'll freeze." Jacob's muscles tensed under his dark skin.

Dakota's eyes rolled lazily to watch him from the corner of her sockets, "What about you? Won't you get cold?"

"Why do you have so many questions?"

"I wouldn't have any if you'd answer them in the first place."

"You're better off not knowing."

She stared at him and huffed in anger, "It's a little late to try and protect me from what you and they are, Jacob."

He only watched the dark before him with angry set eyes. Goose bumps ran all over his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut , trying to dampen the sound of pounding blood in his ears, trying to stabilize his racing heart; to make it all disappear, but it wouldn't. The adrenaline running from his brain through his veins was invigorating; it took so much strength to keep everything in. He hadn't wanted this, he hadn't wanted her. He didn't want her, he couldn't want her, but he couldn't help it. The universe wanted them together for some crock reason and there was just no way he could fight the universe and win. He'd tried before.

Minutes passed; long minutes. His skin smoothed, the ache in his bones eased and his whole being relaxed. His fists uncurled and he let out a tired breath. He opened his eyes and let them adjust to the dim light of the porch light. He was tired. Seth's ears perked and twisted around. Jacob watched him carefully. The large brown wolf cocked his head to the side in the direction of the thick tree line and then toward Jacob. Jacob nodded and Seth dropped down from the porch and loped off into the dark.

Jacob relaxed against the cool slotted wood of the house and glanced at the girl next to him. She was asleep. Every breath or so she would shiver. Her cheeks and nose had turned red with the cold. her hands were a mottled ashen brown and purple. Being a gentleman was out of the question: he had no coat to give her. Instead he wrapped one long arm around her shoulders and warmed her hands between his free fingers. She wasn't dazzling beautiful, nor was she near ugly. She was average, she didn't wear makeup or do anything to her hair. Her clothes screamed that they were worn for comfort and work. He had always thought it would be someone gorgeous- maybe with dark flowing hair, and curious brown eyes. Her hair was black and her eyes were all knowing. No matter which way anyone looked at the situation at hand, she would always be the rebound. Maybe, though, it would fix things. It's what they wanted anyway. Maybe it would maybe not.

* * *

The light that seeped through the tree leaves and the window into the eyes of the sleeping, was pale and weak but still woke the sleeping. A kettle whistled in another room and the sleeping's eyes cracked open to be blinded by the pale light from outdoors and faint fluorescent accompanying the kettle. The eyes closed slowly and reopened to move about the familiar room. The television was set on a small corner table, and the tan couch she lay on was quite a bit familiar. She sat up and tugged at the blanket tangled around her. Her feet were bare and her jacket was slung over the back of a ratty recliner. The carpet squished between her toes as she stood and walked to the kitchen doorway. Dakota stopped dumbfounded.

"Good morning, Dakota." The elderly man smiled warmly from his wheeled chair at the table.

"Morning... Billy."

"Would you care to join me?" Billy offered a seat at the table.

"Uh, no, no thanks. Um, is Jacob around?" Dakota glanced out into the early morning light through the small window above the kitchen sink.

"Yes, he's sleeping right now."

"Okay, well, I'm going to go talk to him. It's kind of urgent."

Billy smiled and gestured down the hallway, "Down the hall, last door on the left."

Dakota didn't look back as she sleepily stomped down the cramped hall. She slammed through the bedroom door and stood with one hand on the door knob, the other on her hip. She grunted at the balled up form on the mattress in the floor and stepped into the room before slamming the door behind her.

"Jacob Black, I need to talk to you." She hissed with her hands on her hips, the covered figure on the floor didn't budge. Dakota huffed in anger and bent to grab the blanket. She filled her fists with the blue cloth and tugged hard.

The figure growled, "Go back to sleep, Dakota." He pulled at the blanket.

"No, not until you talk to me." She pulled back.

"It's five thirty in the morning, nothing is that important." He tugged at the blanket again.

Dakota pulled the blanket again and received an angry look from a pair of brown eyes. The blanket strained and they were in a stalemate. Jacob turned on to his back but kept a tight grip on the edge of the blanket.

"Are you going to let go?" He asked; his voice was rough from sleep.

"Not until you answer."

"I'm tired."

"Answer them, Jacob."

"Okay," Jacob tugged hard on the blanket and Dakota lost her balance. She fell forward across Jacob, "Now what were your questions?"

Dakota huffed and pushed herself onto her hands and knees, "Are you crazy?"

Jacob grinned, "Some say that."

Dakota sat back on her knees, "I can't talk to you like that."

"Like what?"

Dakota waved toward his bare chest. Jacob laughed, "You didn't seem to have a problem yesterday."

"Well, yesterday I was a little preoccupied with not dying. Today, not so much."

Jacob complied and pulled the blanket up to his chin, "Better?"

Dakota nodded but stayed facing away from him. They both remained silent.

"You wake me up quite violently and then don't say anything?"

She dropped her head and sighed, "What am I supposed to tell them, Jake?"

Jacob perked at the usage of his nickname. He sat up and bent his knees up to keep balance. A crease formed between his eyes.

"They're going to find Robbie and when they do they'll call all the employees in for questioning. If I told them what really happened they'd have committed."

"Whoa, you can't say anything about what really happened last night even if they don't believe you. No one else is supposed to know."

Dakota turned to face Jacob. Her eyes were rimmed in red and she couldn't help with her trembling breaths. Jacob lowered his eyes, "This isn't about Robbie is it?"

"I never asked to be a part of this, you know, "Dakota pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and sniffed, "I was born into a curse and this is just part of it."

Jacob scooted closer, "What are you talking about?"

"My grandpa was the first to leave this reservation. He was a part of your grandpa's pack, Jake. He left with my grandma, uncle and dad. When he died two years later my grandma and uncle moved back up here, my dad stayed in Tulsa. Christmas Eve seven years ago I was in a wreck with my uncle," Dakota pulled up her pant leg to reveal an long jagged line of pink running from the back of her knee around to the top of her foot, "I was trapped upside down in my seat, stuck between the crushed dashboard and the bench. Three months ago I came to live here because my parents died in a wreck."

It took all of being to keep from comforting her the way he could see himself doing.

"Do you know what any of this has to do with you and me?" Dakota asked.

Jacob shook his head. Dakota leaned close, "It means that I can't deny what I am and neither can Logan or Kayla. If we do we die. You and I were thrown together for a reason with no choice. I think you're supposed to save me Jacob Black."

Their noses were touching now. Jacob placed a hand on her jaw and Dakota leaned up. Their lips connected with the softest touch. The kiss was gentle and smooth and lingering. They were enjoying themselves to the point of a lovely tingling sensation; Dakota pulled away.

"I have to go," She went to the door and turned slightly, "My car?"

Jacob flopped back on his mattress, "In the garage. Keys are in the toolbox."

The door closed firmly behind her and she could be heard walking down the hallway only stopping to gather her jacket and shoes and calling a 'good bye' to Billy on her way out the front door.

She was closer to the truth than she knew and it was eating him up inside.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Funeral

Robert Sullivan's funeral was attended by more than two thirds of the reservation and a few inhabitants from Forks. It had been a closed casket ceremony.

The police had never given an accurate statement as to how they really found Robbie's body. The man's obituary only stated that he had slipped while attempting to replace the bulb in the light at the back of the building, he had broken his neck and hadn't been found until the next morning by one of his employees. They had no leads to any human having been the cause of his death, only large animal prints between the surrounding trees. No DNA other than the deceased's, and especially no tire marks.

Everything had left Dakota dumbfounded. The pack, Jacob specifically had told her not to worry, They would take care of it; she wouldn't be a suspect unless the police found out she had been to the shop before arriving at the Blacks'. Her alibi was she had been on her way to help Robbie with a foreign sportscar when her tire blew out and she had to call Jacob to help her push it to his house so he could fix it; it had started to rain while she was there and the road was flooded so there was no way for her to drive back home so Dakota stayed the night and left the next morning around six o'clock. And the police had bought it. Both Jacob and Billy could atest to this and Dakota had arrived at her aunt's before the sherrif had.

The funeral passed quickly even with the large amount of people in attendance. Though most of La Push had come no relatives of Robbie's had shown. It was a shame and caused Dakota to have a guilt twist in her throat and stomach, she hadn't ever meant the things she said about him.

While sitting with her aunt Clara and her syblings Dakota caught a glimpse of Jacob sitting one row back. He was trying to get her attention. All she did was ignore him. What had happened between them was not what she wanted. It was a mistake. There was a tap on her shoulder; she turned slightly as not to disturb any of the surrounding attendees.

"I need to talk to you."

"Could you wait until later?" She hissed.

He hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath, "No."

Dakota angrily grabbed his sleeve and slid out of her seat, dragging him behind. She found a nearby tree and yanked him behind it, "What do you want Jacob?!"

"About the other morning..."

"There was and is nothing about the other morning." Dakota snapped.

Jacob looked amused, "Really?"

Dakota stood with her chin in her palm, thinking, "Listen, I appreciate everything you and the others have done to keep me out of trouble, but what happened between you and I was a mistake on my part. I was hysterical, not thinking straight. I don't go around kissing strangers!"

Jacob leaned against the tree trunk with his hands in his pockets. He didn't know what else to say to cheer her up or to atleast get her to talk. She had turned away from him, "So I'm a stranger now?"

Dakota whipped around, "Not in the sense you're getting at. I've known your name and face for a little over a week. I don't know you, Jacob. What happened wasn't real, it was an accident. You understand that right?"

Both were silent.

The priest could be heard from their tree. A breeze blew through the leaves and ruffled their hair. Dakota watched her figiting toes. Jacob watched her. She sighed and turned back toward the ceremony, rubbing her arms to keep warm. She didn't say another word.

* * *

The seasons changed quickly from the light heat of late summer to the cool breezes of early autumn. There were no human leads in Robbie's case and so everyone was left in the dark about what really happened to the man. They all thought he slipped and fell. And it was all to protect her.

Jacob often watched her from afar. She knew nothing of his curse and so afar was good enough for him. He usually watched from one of the several buildings around town and occasionally from the line of trees across from her home. He had become a stalker, but he didn't see it in that light. She hadn't kept in touch with the pack or even Billy or Sue. Sam had kept him on probabtion and set him to keep an eye on her, to make sure she hadn't been taken. No one had seen the black car that had been in Robbie's shop, the vampires were still at large.

The pack didn't trust him as much as before. Seth was still loyal as ever, and he seemed to be the only one on good speaking terms. He had approached her after the funeral. She had only been civil toward Billy and Seth. The pack, anyone who had known her before hand, anyone with a tail or fangs knew her hostility was caused by the death of her boss, if not because of the boy. Seth had confessed his joy of her not having been eaten in the middle of the night; she laughed at that.

Today he was going to talk to her. She had achieved the position of cashier at the grocery store. She was friendly enough for and a quick hand. It had been a month since he properly spoke to her. A little chit-chat while buying a magazine wouldn't hurt.

The lights in the store weren't very bright and gave off a pink tinge. Jacob ducked as much as he could behind the nearest shelf. He peeked around the side; she hadn't seen him. He snuck around to the back of the store and snagged an auto magazine and a Coke on his way back to the front of the store. He found her lane and stood behind an elderly man.

"You stick out like a sore thumb." She said as he set his items down. She grabbed his Coke and slid it across the scanner.

"Yeah, I can't hide." He shrugged. She didn't reply, only kept running the magazine over the scanner. The price wasn't coming up.

She picked up a reciever and punched in a number, "Danny, I need a price check."

"Your hair is pretty long." Jacob pointed out. She glanced up at him.

"Yeah, yours too." Her black hair swished at her shoulders. He had let his hair grow out; it was at an akward length right above his eyes.

She picked up the phone's reciever again, "Danny, price check, now!"

Dakota kept scanning the magazine, it wouldn't work. She gave up in a huff and slammed down the 'closed' sign on the counter and stomped off in the direction of the magazine aisle. Jacob followed close behind, and stopped short when she suddenly stopped in the middle of the aisle and pulled the sticker off the edge of the shelf.

"Will you please stop?" She growled.

"Stop what?"

"Following me. You're like a stalker or something." Dakota headed back down the aisle.

"You haven't talked to any of us and I'm on probation. They won't let me do anything but patrols." He complained.

"Jacob," she sighed, "Maybe it's because I'm not exactly sure what to say to them. I know they know everything _you_ know. Maybe I'm a little embarrassed, hm?"

Jacob leant down to her eye level, "Dakota, you have got to stay in contact even if it's just saying one little sentense to Billy or Sue. There is a threat out there, and it's against you."

Dakota was messing with the edge of her green vest, not looking him in the eye. Jacob stood straight and rocked back a step. Dakota stood still, "I'm...going to go check this now."

_She was embarrassed by him._


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Visions of War

"When are we going back; these campers aren't filling."

"Patience. They are still looking for us. We will lay low for a while more."

The vampires were hidden deep in a dark cave on the highest recesses of tallest mountain right on the border of Washington and Canada.

They were waiting, planning for their crime. They would have her. Her sure.

* * *

"He was a man named Clark Foreman. Born in 1974, died last week. He obviously was kept up to date." Carlisle closed the file and set it on his office desk. He turned to his family.

"If he was a newborn that means there's a big bad creator out there." The tallest Cullen brother spoke.

"What does that mean for us?" Asked the brunette Bella.

Edward sat up straight in the guest chair, "It means we do not deal with the mutts unless this vampire becomes a threat too big for them to handle. No one in Forks or on the reservation knows we are here. We need to keep ourselves out of sight."

"Do remember Edward, this vampire has already put us in danger." Rosalie spoke with an air of disdain.

The Cullens were quiet for a moment. Only Bella's breath could be heard. Alice was stone still, Edward was watching her intently, Jasper held a hand on her shoulder.

"Something's changed," She whispered. "She's going to go with them."

"They're going to kidnap her?"

Alice opened her eyes, "No. She's going with them."

* * *

Seth had began to make it habit to arrive at Dakota's house after school. If it wasn't to relay messages between Jacob and Dakota, it was simply to hang around her house. Dakota had let Seth quickly back into her circle. He had done her no harm and would be good to have around if anything weird began to happen to Logan. Most of the time the three of them sat around the living room playing video games.

For weeks this was the routine unless Dakota had to cover someone else's shift that afternoon. The longer she spent with Seth the happier she was, he was a good kid. After Robbie's funeral she hadn't even trimmed her hair; it now hung past her shoulders. She almost looked like every other La Push kid in her green work vest.

Most of the rez had taken to wearing sweaters and pants as the weather changed from muggy to freezing. Though there were the few oddballs who wore T-shirts in the forty to thirty degree weather. Instead of her hooded zip-ups and work boots Dakota sported a fur lined coat and regular tennis shoes, and no longer sis she ride her bike but had switched to car pooling with Clara or a co-worker. Things always seemed to change with the climate.

Dakota's job wasn't exactly what she had wanted, but it was something to keep her occupied and to help lift the money burden off of Clara. Dakota more than often slept on her lunch break, her job bored her and she hadn't been sleeping well. Seth, Jared, and Paul had removed the broken limbs from the tree, which let much more street light into her room.

Weekly Kayla brought home pictures in marker, crayon, pencil, and paint. All depicting her dreams. There were still strange monsters and the occasional vampire. One of them had been Dakota and a white eyed werewolf, another had been her and two vampires. Kayla didn't know what they were, only that they growled a lot at her older sister.

Kayla had also taken to Seth, she called him a bear. She often said her dreams included him, but he wasn't the person with Dakota. Her dreams had become more colorful and disturbing. Mr. and Mrs. Coates had taken Kayla to a psychiatrist when her dreams started, the doctor diagnosed her with an overactive imagination, but that's not what was wrong. It was an inherited trait from their mother's side of the family. She had visions of the future.

"'Kota, do you have anything to eat?" Seth asked as he jogged up the steps of the Coates' household.

Dakota sat playing with Kayla on the porch, "Yeah, but don't eat everything this time. Clara almost killed me last week."

She picked up Kayla and led Seth into the house, "So how's school?"

"It's okay. Get's in the way of patrols though." Seth sat at the table in the kitchen.

"Don't ever think about dropping out, Seth. It won't do you any good."

"My mom would never let me, I'm in for the long haul."

"Good." Dakota set Kayla in a char and brought sandwich ingredients to the table. She pushed the food to Seth and sat watching him making a second lunch.

"How's the job?"

Dakota sighed, "It's fine. I think I might get a ten cent raise for Christmas."

"Well, in that case you should buy us all gifts."

"I was thinking of hosting a Spam feast. That's in my budget."

Seth finished off his sandwich and Dakota watched her little sister fidgeting with her lace hemmed skirt.

"Kayla, have you had any dreams lately?" Dakota asked.

The little girl gazed up with her large brown eyes, "Yeah, wanna see them?"

Dakota nodded and Kayla pushed out of the chair and ran to her room to gather the papers. The little girl returned moments later with a stack of paper. She climbed back into the chair and spread out her art.

"Which one is newest?"

Kayla pointed to a picture of two figures facing each other. One with yellow eyes and one with red eyes. Dakota moved on to another picture; this one showed a dark haired girl and a red eyed creature. Another picture showed a large black dog with white eyes and another figure with red eyes. She pointed to the picture of the dark haired girl, "Do you remember what this one was about?"

The littlest Coates girl tugged at her pigtails in thought, "You went with them. The monsters."

Dakota glanced up at Seth, "Are they bad Kayla?"

Kayla pulled at her hair again, "Are you bad Kota? You went with them. Does that make you bad?"

Dakota stared at the picture, "I don't know what that makes me Kayla. Whatever it is, it's not good."

Kayla gathered her pictures and went to play in her room. Both Dakota and Seth stayed seated in the kitchen.

"What do you think it means?" Seth asked.

"I don't know. I guess I end up with a vampire. I thought they were gone."

"Well, they were, but it's only been a month. Last time it went on for months. And she wasn't working alone either. By the time we caught them, there was a whole army. When hikers start missing we'll start know what's going on."

"The others should know about this right?" Dakota suggested.

"Yeah. Do you want to go now?" Seth stood.

"I can't. Clara's out until later, and I can't leave the kids by themselves," she thought a moment, "Could we get the pack here?"

"It's worth a shot."

Seth called Sam first, then Jacob who both in turn made sure Leah, Embry, and Quil got the message as well. It wasn't more than a half hour before the six wolves and Dakota met on the front porch. Kayla and Logan were to stay inside while the others talked outside.

"What's this all about?" Leah huffed.

"Dakota's little sister had a vision." Seth said, standing several inches taller than Dakota.

"Visions?" Sam was skeptical, "What do you mean by visions?"

"She has dreams about things, events, people. Even when she has never seen or heard of them. She draws them out." Dakota spoke and handed Sam a stack of paper, "These are what she showed Seth and I."

Sam flipped through them and handed them off to Jacob to look through. Jacob's eyes narrowed at each picture. He passed them on.

"How do you know the kid doesn't have an over active imagination?" Leah's snarky comments held true.

Dakota took the papers back, "My grandma had the same trait. When the visions started my parents took her to a psychiatrist. The doctor said she had an over active imagination too. Then the picture of my aunt came up. I'm sure you understand the meaning."

"So what do these mean?" Embry gestured to the papers.

"We were hoping you could interpret them." Seth said.

The pack was still. Sam crossed his arms and looked at Jacob. All the other eyes followed. Jacob sighed and nodded, "I'll ask him if he'll take a look."

The pack nodded and started back out into the wintery mist. Jacob lingered to take the pictures back from Dakota. There was still some tension between the two, but it had lessened with Seth's relaying of messages.

"I'll head over once Clara gets back, okay. I'd like to hear more about all of this."

Jacob nodded and bounded off after the others. Dakota waved absently and went back inside the house to a strange breeze floating down the hallway. She peeked into the kitchen and saw nothing amiss. Next she saw Logan in the living room.

"Hey where's Kayla?" Logan didn't answer so Dakota wandered on to her sister's room. She stopped in the doorway. The little girl was standing at her open window.

"Kayla, why's the window open?"

The little girl turned, "He wanted to play."

Dakota hurried across the room and closed and locked the window, "Who wanted to play?"

"The man with red eyes."


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The Call

He was running. And it was dark. There were things behind him, chasing him. His strong legs pumped faster and his claws dug into the moist earth. His eyes were wild. His heart was pounding, pounding, pounding—

"Jake?"

The tired young man woke with a start, immediately falling over the edge of the sofa. The floor was cold for carpet. He looked up at the ceiling and a worried face took its place.

"Sorry. You okay?"

"Yeah. D'you just get here?"

"Your dad let me in."

Jacob pushed himself up and back onto the sofa. He noticed it was quite silent in the Black house, "Where _is_ my dad?"

Dakota straightened her stance and took a step back, "He said he was going to see Sue. I think Chief Swan picked him up. He already told me about the pictures," she sat in Billy's chair, "I'm… not sure what to make of it."

"Good for you, I trust _you_ enough not to run away with a vampire. I think we could handle anything they throw at us," Jacob boasted, "What time is it?"

Dakota checked her watch, "Seven thirty-three."

Jacob watched his friend for a minute. She was constantly tugging at her hair, jiggling her knee, and kept a hard stare at the green floor, "What's wrong?"

She glanced up at his serious face, "Sam and Embry are taking patrol. Leah and Seth are at my house with Clara and the kids. Jared, Paul, and Quil are keep tight patrol on the rez. Kayla saw one of them. One of the vampires."

Jacob stood in a flash and was half way to the door when Dakota caught his arm and almost fell over at trying to stop him, "They said for you to stay here, Jake. They didn't want me with Clara and the others. They said you could handle it if you needed to."

He relaxed a fraction and turned back to her. Her face was pitiful. She was chewing her lips as not to cry. He couldn't help it, so he pulled her into a tight hug. A sob broke through and she held on to him, too. She pressed her forehead to his chest and he pressed a large hand to her hair. She cried hard. Minutes passed and neither pulled away. Jacob wondered if she would regret the perfect moment later on. He hoped she wouldn't.

* * *

"They're patrolling around Forks and La Push. The mutt's friend is not safe. One of them appeared to the child."

"Her sister?"

"Yes."

"The danger is approaching not only for them, Edward, but for _us_. I can see it. We'll all be dead by the end of it."

* * *

The phone rang abruptly on the table beside the Coates' sofa. Without missing a beat Logan Coates picked the phone, lined up a shot and hit the jump button in time to miss Seth's attack.

"Hello?"

"_I need to talk to Seth_."

"Alright." Logan handed the phone over to the large boy beside him. Seth took the phone without fumble.

"Hello?"

"_Seth, the trail is skipping all over. Make sure Leah and yourself are alert. The leeches know; they'll tell us if they come across anything_."

"What about Jake?"

"_He's fine. Just make sure-_"

The room went black.

All that could be heard was the sleet pelting the windows and roof. An uncomfortable whine came from down the hall.

"Kids, you okay?"

"Yes, Ms Coates. Kayla just isn't happy with the dark!" Leah called.

"It's the storm. The ice probably has all the lines down."

"Man! I was beating you Seth!"

Leah came into the doorway of the living room with a flashlight in hand and Kayla's in the other. Clara appeared next and Seth put the phone back on its base.

"I hate these storms."

"Lele, I need to go potty." Kayla squeaked.

Leah sighed and led Kayla to the bathroom. Kayla wanted to go by herself so Leah gave her the flashlight and shut the door. No sooner did she close the door but a panicked question came from the living room, "What is that?"

Leah padded quietly down the hall to the gathering room. Logan was seated backwards on the sofa, peering out the window. Seth pulled at the blinds and peeked out. He saw nothing.

"I don't see anything."

"It was there. I saw it! It looked like a man, just standing in the street. _Creepy_."

Clara laughed, "That's what happens when you stare at the tv for too long. You're eyes play tricks on you."

A low hum filled the ears of the Coates and the Clearwaters. The room slowly began to brighten. The homely glow of the lamps grew and the tension eased in the room.

"Where's Kayla?" Clara asked.

"She went to the bathroom."

Clara walked to the bathroom door and knocked gently, "Kayla, you okay in there?"

No answer.

"Kayla?"

* * *

Dakota lay curled in a ball on the sofa, with a dark red afghan over her. Jacob sat in Billy's chair watching her sleep. A soft sound came from the outside and the front door opened slowly. Billy rolled in and put his house keys jacket pocket. Chief Swan was behind him.

"Jake," spoke the Chief, "Something's happened at your friend's house. Uh, why don't we talk in the kitchen?"

Jacob glanced at the sleeping Dakota then stood and followed the grace faced Billy Black and Charlie Swan into the next room for the news they all preferred not to hear.

The news was heartbreaking. So heartbreaking that he couldn't speak. What Chief Swan had brought caused him to be entirely angry and what that news would do to Dakota was unbearable. His hands were white knuckled in balled fists over his set mouth; his brow angled.

"It's probably better to wait until she wakes up, Jake. Clara knows she's here and sage. I'll stop by again on my way out and tell them she doesn't know right now."

Charlie Swan left quietly and Jacob made sure the door was locked. Billy rolled to the edge of the carpet. Both of the Black men watched the girl on their sofa with grief filled eyes.

Billy's gravelly voice sounded, "That girl has been through a whole lot, and she is a strong one, Jake. Take good care."


End file.
